Updated at 12:49 p.m.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) closed out 2019 with another major fundraising victory. His presidential campaign announced Thursday that it raised more than $34.5 million in the final three months of the year.
The money came in the form of 1.8 million individual contributions, the campaign said, averaging $18.53 apiece. Notably, nearly 300,000 people gave to Sanders’ campaign for the first time in the fourth quarter.
Since Sanders joined the 2020 race last February, he has raised $96 million and accepted 5 million donations. According to his campaign, 99.9 percent of his donors have given less than the maximum $2,800 allowed by law, suggesting that they could continue fueling his operation as early voting begins next month in Iowa and New Hampshire.
In a written statement, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said his boss was “proving each and every day that working class Americans are ready and willing to fully fund a campaign that stands up for them and takes on the biggest corporations and the wealthy.”
Because presidential candidates do not have to file official reports with the Federal Election Commission until later this month, it’s impossible to verify Sanders’ self-reported numbers or compare them to the rest of the field. The campaign did not immediately reveal how much money it spent during the final quarter of 2019, nor how much it had in the bank.
By early afternoon Thursday, only a smattering of Sanders’ Democratic rivals had reported their fundraising figures. Former mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., said he raised $24.7 million, while entrepreneur Andrew Yang collected $16.5 million. Republican President Donald Trump, meanwhile, took in $46 million.
Sanders’ fourth-quarter haul bests his third-quarter record of $25.3 million. It narrowly exceeds the $33 million he collected in the fourth quarter of 2015 — the equivalent period of the 2016 Democratic primary.
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So our government should stay out of healthcare? You were doing better before ACA? Are you doing really well, as in the 1%? Or what percent would you say you are? [If a billionaire was 100 and a homeless person was a 1? And a minimum-wage person was a 5, perhaps?]
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/upshot/…
and
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-…
This is why I say it’s not going all that well even with “competition”. And why so many countries…
[And by the way I know nothing about pledges and campaigns – some one else will have to field that one.]
Carry on.
Thanks for pointing out the VT Sledgislature misdeeds, Know Your Assumptions. It is precisely the reason I left the State where I raised my kids because the taxes were eating me alive. I now reside in a warmer climate with no State tax and reasonable property tax with more services provided for the dollar paid. You cannot retire in VT. Certainly no financial incentive or advantage. The Fed tax cuts helped me out with a lower tax rate. So now I have a little more walking around money!
Not sure Mr. Messing read/understood my previous post. Health insurance is out of control. Rather than having the government continue to run, I’m wanting to go back to private insurance. Competition in a capitalist society usually delivers better options if not a lower rate.
Peace
*For many people I know, the economy is not doing so well as you say.*
Well, its certainly true that Trump has further tilted the national economy toward the well off.
But the Vermont legislature continues to do everything in its power to make matters worse for Vermonters. By raising taxes, by driving up expenses, by antagonizing and driving out employers, by driving out wealthy residents and the taxes they pay, and by turning Vermont into a low-income retirement home where so many people cant earn a middle class living. By God, what other state cheers and closes a state budget gap when one wealthy resident dies???
Maybe 4MERVTER is doing ok because he left.
Ah…more words of wisdom from the rabid KYAssumptions!
Perhaps you can be my nemesis, “Mega Baloney.” You claim these columns are infested with “Bernie supporters” or whatever. You hardly leave them room! Just keep track of the likes and dislikes…
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Thank you, former Vermonter (?),
I’m glad you are doing well – I wish more were doing as well. You have your ideas neatly in a row, and I’m not likely to change your mind. If more plain citizens benefited from the giant tax cuts that gave us a truly giant deficit, I’d have a different opinion. As Will Rogers said, “Money trickles up.”
For many people I know, the economy is not doing so well as you say. They feel very differently, and their wages have not risen. Healthcare competition, the system we now have, is not bringing costs down a bit – they are Up. Healthcare is fabulously expensive, and few can handle their premiums and deductibles. Glad you’re okay. Check the prices in different countries for medical procedures.
You’re doing alright, so everyone should be happy with the system we have?
Thank you.
Mr. Messing,
Thanks for your civil response. However, you seem to indicate that things aren’t running so well. You also mention tax cuts that benefit billionaires. I’m a retiree living off a fixed income and pensions. The tax cuts worked out well for me and I’m not anything near a billionaire!
Further, please at least acknowledge the strength of the US economy. Look at employment, low unemployment and increased wages. Look at the stock market and the growth for average 401k-ers. Stability in the companies is a huge plus. Speaking of a huge plus, the US is now the leader of the world in oil exports. All this and our carbon emmissions have been reduced. But I digress.
I do believe and hope that the Federal government does provide security and works on infrastructure. Nobody in America is denied healthcare but insurance should be privatized. Competition will lower rates. Personally, I now pay more for health insurance for 2 than I ever did for a mortgage payment. Every year it goes up and the government mandates I have it. We’re healthy, but have few choices.
So back to the point of Bernie’s fundraising. I personally believe his donors are not looking at contributing weighing all the information that is out there. Does anyone really believe that big government will make life better? I don’t.
Regards.
*Those who patrol these threads are not Bernie friendly.
OMG thats Mega Baloney. There are tons of Bernie zombies patrolling the Seven Days reader comment threads. They go on high alert every time Paul Heintz publishes anything thats not pure, unadulterated flattery of the Dear Leader.