(CN) – Democratic front-runner for the presidency Joe Biden added approximately $15 million to his war chest in the third quarter, his campaign announced Thursday – an impressive haul but less than fellow candidates Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg.
Sanders topped all Democrats vying to unseat President Donald Trump in 2020 with an impressive total of $25 million. The senator from Vermont suspended his campaign temporarily after undergoing a heart procedure earlier this week, but his campaign said it would continue an ad buy in Iowa and participate in the upcoming debates on Oct. 15 in Ohio.
Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, continues a strong race though the approximately $19 million is about $6 million less than he raised in the second quarter.
“This is great news and shows that in a crowded field, Pete continues to stand out as having the vision and leadership voters know we need to tackle the urgent problems facing our country,” said Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager in an email. “It also positions us solidly as one of the top three fundraisers in this race.”
Thus far, Buttigieg’s fundraising prowess has failed to translate to a breakthrough into the upper echelons of polling numbers. Sanders, Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts continue to dominate.
Warren, who has surged to the top of the polls in recent weeks, has yet to release her fundraising numbers.
But most national and state polls still put Biden in the front-runner’s position.
"We've had well over half a million contributions," Biden told about 80 to 100 donors Thursday at Evvia Estiatorio, a white-tablecloth Greek restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, California, not far from the Stanford University campus, according to a pool report. "We haven't raised what a lot of people have – we got started way later than everybody else, but we’ve raised, this last quarter, $15 million, in the middle of summer.”
Biden said the campaign continues to receive donations from small donors, over 70% of which came from individuals previously unknown to the campaign, according to campaign manager Greg Schultz.
“Today’s fundraising totals put the campaign in a strong position as we enter the fall,” Schultz said. “The question any campaign faces at this point is whether or not you have the resources to compete in early states and sustain your efforts beyond. Our campaign unequivocally does and builds on our strength each week.”
Senator Kamala Harris of California, who has been left for dead by pundits, managed to raise an impressive $11 million, giving the candidate a puncher’s chance to make it to Iowa as one of the top candidates.
The fractured nature of the Democratic field continues to benefit the Republicans at this juncture. Trump’s campaign raised $125 million in the third quarter and has raised a little more than $300 million in 2019.
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