For the 2020 presidential campaign, newly-entered candidate Beto O’Rourke set a new record for this season’s opening 24-hour fundraising blitzes. His campaign claimed that it already received $6.1 million from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and all territories, according to the Washington Post.
“In just 24 hours, Americans across this country came together to prove that it is possible to run a true grassroots campaign for president—a campaign by all of us for all of us that answers not to the PACs, corporations, and special interests but to the people,” a campaign statement quoted O’Rourke.
There had been questions whether his ability to raise money as he did in 2018 during the most expensive Senate campaign in history, when he ran against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in Texas.
The amount O’Rourke raised in the first 24 hours edged out the initial success of the Bernie Sanders campaign, which said that it brought in $5.9 million, according to CNBC. The campaign says that it raised the funds from 223,000 people with an average donation of $27.
O’Rourke’s campaign reportedly would not state the number of people who had donated in the 24-hour period or the average contribution. It also has not released amounts obtained on following days or said whether the candidate would shun big fundraiser events as Elizabeth Warren has.
Although he may be the money front-runner among Democrats at the moment, O’Rourke, or any other candidate, will have some distance to catch incumbent Donald Trump, who filed for re-election on his inauguration. Over a period slightly longer than two years, Trump’s campaign has raised $16.3 million, with another $15.9 million raised in outside money, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.