WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden raised $21.5 million for his presidential bid since entering the race on April 25, his campaign announced Wednesday.
This amount bests that of other Democratic candidates in the early days after they entered the race.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, for instance, announced his presidential run in mid-February and raised $18.2 million in about six and a half weeks during the first quarter. Sanders topped all the other candidates.
Biden’s $21.5 million comes as he’s spent just 66 days in the race.
That being said, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced an impressive haul for a first-timer candidate of $24.8 million in the 90-day, second-quarter reporting period.
He’s been in the race much longer than Biden.
Buttigieg has also amassed more than 400,000 donors.
Biden’s cash comes from 256,000 individual donors.
Both Biden and Buttigieg have hit one of the qualifying thresholds to participate in the third and fourth Democratic debates by collecting money from so many individual donors.
Biden’s campaign points out that 97% of his donations are under $200, meaning most of his donors haven’t hit the legal maximum and can give more. The average Biden donation was $49, the campaign said.
The campaign also touted how the current front-runner hasn’t accepted donations from federally registered lobbyists nor corporate PACS.
Sanders announced his second-quarter numbers Tuesday – which were down from the first quarter, even though he was in the race the full time, as he amassed another $18 million.
Sen. Kamala Harris, who challenged Biden over school busing in last week’s debate and earned $12 million in the first quarter, has yet to release her spring numbers yet.
“We’ve only been [in] this race for a little over 2 months, but we’ve raised more per day than any other presidential campaign,” a note from “Team Joe” bragged to supporters Wednesday.