To those who doubted whether former Rep. Beto O’Rourke would be a fundraising juggernaut as a presidential candidate can put those doubts to rest.
O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in his first 24 hours as a presidential candidate, surpassing Bernie Sanders and every other 2020 Democrat who has disclosed their figures.
O’Rourke’s campaign announced today that he had taken in $6,136,763 in online contributions in the day after declaring his candidacy Thursday morning.
That’s a strong showing for the former Texas congressman who lost a Senate race last year to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, while setting a new fundraising record in Texas.
The total shows he’s in for a sustained campaign— with the fundraising capacity to last deep into the primary and to compete with anyone in the race.
Standing in front of a strip mall coffee shop in this suburb of Detroit, O’Rourke proclaimed today that he was building “the largest grassroots campaign this country has ever seen, funded completely by, powered completely by people, not PACs, not lobbyists, not corporations and not special interests.”
“It’s one of the best ways to bring the county together, to make sure that we are listening to one another, and not that entrenchment of wealth and power and privilege that has defined so much of our politics from before,” said O’Rourke.
Perhaps no other candidate’s first 24-hour fundraising total was as closely watched as O’Rourke’s, whose credibility as a national contender largely rested on the small-dollar fundraising list he developed as a Senate candidate.
“Six million bucks overnight is impressive and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t understand the game,” said Kirk Wagar, a former top Barack Obama donor who is backing Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).
“It’s not the same as when Jeb Bush did it, where he had everyone lined up when they all donated. This guy, as far as I know, didn’t make a bunch of calls. Didn’t have a bunch of people that were pounding people.“
“We’ve finally got a candidate, and he can raise money,” said Boyd Brown, a former South Carolina lawmaker and former Democratic National Committee member who was part of a ‘Draft Beto’ effort in South Carolina. “It shows everybody what some of us knew: He’s the real deal. Right out of the gate, he’s just right back in the saddle as to what he was doing in Texas.”
O’Rourke’s fundraising announcement came as the former congressman continued a furious spate of campaigning across the Midwest, appearing in Detroit and its suburbs on today.
After flying from Milwaukee to Detroit, the candidate drove a rented Dodge Grand Caravan to Cleveland on Monday afternoon before motoring on toward New Hampshire.
He is expected to visit all 10 of the first-in-the-nation primary state’s counties over the course of one night and two days, ending Friday.
Sanders beat expectations and stunned observers by raising a then-record-setting $5.9 million in his first 24 hours as a candidate last month.
Among other Democratic candidates, Sen. Kamala Harris of California collected $1.5 million, which was seen as an impressive haul.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota raised $1 million in 48 hours, as did former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
It took Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington 72 hours to raise more than $1 million, but that still surpassed expectations.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts raised at least $300,000 on New Year’s Eve, her first partial day in the race, according to filings from the online donation clearinghouse ActBlue.
But her campaign declined to disclose their complete one-day fundraising picture.
The other Democratic candidates in the crowded field have not released their one-day hauls and are not required to disclose anything about their finances until the end of this month, when they make their first disclosure to the Federal Election Commission and the public.