While Bernie Sanders narrowly lost the Iowa primary to rival Hillary Clinton, he soundly won in the fundraising game in January.
The Clinton campaign said Thursday that it raised a total of $15 million in the year’s first month, falling short of Sanders’ $20 million raised during the same period.
“Unlike other campaigns which rely heavily on wealthy donors who give the maximum allowed by law, more than 99.9 percent of Sanders’ donors can give again,” the Sanders campaign said in a statement. “In sharp contrast, Federal Election Commission reports indicate that more than 3 in 5 dollars given to Hillary Clinton come from donors who already have given her the maximum allowed by law.”
Sanders received donations from over 770,000 individuals with an average donation of $27. This means that most of them can give again, while many of Clinton’s donors have already given the maximum $2,700.
"He outraised us in January," Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast Thursday. "We've been very candid with our online supporters that Senator Sanders' online supporters have given more often – a higher proportion of his list contributes.”
Thought Clinton won the Iowa caucus in a photo finish, Sanders used the razor-thin margin that he lost by to rally his followers to give him another $3 million dollars after the results came in, saying that the “virtual tie” was proof that his campaign on an upward trajectory.
This is the first time that the Sanders campaign has ever outpaced his Clinton in terms of fundraising haul. The new numbers bring the Clinton’s race total to a historical $130 million, with Sanders at $105 million.
On Wednesday, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein saying that Bernie Sanders’ candidacy “has the potential to be a dangerous moment.” Sanders capitalized on this moment, criticizing Blankfein’s role in the 2008 financial crisis. “I have to say, I find it a little beyond comprehension that Lloyd Blankfein would lecture our campaign about ‘dangerous moments’ after Wall Street received huge bailouts from the working families of this country, when their greed and recklessness caused millions of Americans to lose their jobs, livelihoods, and homes just a few years ago. His arrogance has no end,” the Vermont senator wrote in a fundraising message, asking for a $3 contribution.
Sanders and Clinton will next battle it out in New Hampshire’s polls. Sanders is favored 58 percent support against Clinton’s 36 percent.