Washington, Jan 3 (IANS) Former US Vice President and Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden’s presidential campaign announced on that it raised $22.7 million in the last quarter of 2019, its best performing quarter to date.
In a statement on Thursday, Biden’s campaign also said it has raised $59.5 million it was formally launched in April 2019, reports Xinhua news agency.
The campaign doubled its online fundraising and increased its overall fundraising by 49 per cent compared to last quarter, according to the statement.
More than half of the campaign’s fourth-quarter donors were first time contributors to the campaign and 98 per cent of all donations are from grassroots donors, it claimed.
Greg Schultz, manager of the Biden campaign, said the fundraising performance has shown the former Vice President’s “growing strength and momentum heading into the early contests of 2020”.
Schultz also said President Donald Trump’s attacks on Biden “have only cemented and expanded his support”.
A 77-year-old moderate, Biden is currently leading in a 14-member Democratic primary field, according to national polls.
The party’s other top-tier presidential hopefuls include progressive Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and Pete Butigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Sanders has reported raising $34.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, while Buttigieg has said his campaign has taken in $24.7 million in the same time frame.
Trump’s fundraising has outpaced any of his Democratic challengers, as his re-election campaign announced on Thursday that it began this year with more than $100 million in the bank.
The re-election campaign raised $46 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, a figure allowing it to end the 2019 calendar year with $102.7 million in cash on hand.
It raised a total of $143 million throughout the year, said a statement.
The 2020 US presidential election is scheduled for November 3.
–IANS
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