Former Vice President Joe Biden has been touted as the front-runner among the Democrats’ 2020 field of presidential contenders, but he’s falling behind when it comes to raising money.
While Biden and his supporters cheered the announcement of how much he raised over the fourth quarter of 2019, the increased take still lagged behind the amounts brought in by rival candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Pete Buttigieg, the Washington Examiner reported.
Biden fundraising falls behind Sanders, Buttigieg
The Biden campaign announced on Thursday that it raised $22.7 million over the final three months of 2019, a substantial increase over the less than impressive $15.2 million raised during the third quarter.
But Biden’s largest quarterly take since entering the race in April still fell short of the amounts raised by Buttigieg and Sanders, who are not only challenging Biden in the fundraising realm but also in the state primary polls as well.
Over the fourth quarter of 2019, Sanders brought in a reported $34.5 million — almost $12 million more than Biden — while Buttigieg’s campaign reportedly received $2 million more in donations than Biden, for a total of $24.7 million.
Better numbers still aren’t that good
The Biden camp crowed about what they viewed as a fiscal win for his candidacy, and pointed particular attention to an estimated 49% increase in online small-dollar donations from individual donors, as opposed to large-dollar donations from wealthy benefactors at private fundraising events.
Altogether, the Biden campaign has raised approximately $59.5 million since his candidacy was launched in April. It remains unclear, however, how much cash on hand the campaign has and how much of the funds raised have already been spent or obligated for specific purposes.
It must be pointed out, though, that Biden’s grand total looks almost paltry in comparison to the amount raised by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign over the same time period.
Trump “juggernaut”
The Washington Examiner reported separately that the Trump campaign announced that it has raised $46 million during the fourth quarter of the year, a sum that bested the campaign’s previous record high of $41 million.
On top of that, the Trump campaign revealed that it had roughly $100 million in cash on hand. Separately, the Republican National Committee reported raising $72.3 million in the 4th quarter.
Ironically, the charade of an impeachment pushed by Democrats was cited by the campaign as the primary motivator behind Trump’s increased fundraising haul.
“Democrats and the media have been in a sham impeachment frenzy, and the president’s campaign only got bigger and stronger with our best fundraising quarter this cycle,” campaign manager Brad Parscale said. “The president’s war chest and grassroots army make his reelection campaign an unstoppable juggernaut.”
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