Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) both “greatly eclipsed” former Vice President Joe Biden in fundraising amounts for their 2020 campaigns over the past three months, The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday morning — “placing progressive Democrats on [a] strong footing in the crucial final stretch before primary voting begins.”
The Warren campaign reported to its donors on Friday morning that the Massachusetts senator raised $24.6 million from more than half a million donors in the fundraising quarter that ended Monday, the same outlet noted.
“The amount is just shy of the haul by her Senate colleague and fellow progressive Sanders, of Vermont.”
Sanders — who just a few days ago had to step off the campaign trail to undergo a heart procedure to address a blocked artery — “earlier in the week reported raising $25.3 million,” The Times also reported.
“Our grassroots movement is in an incredible position,” Warren campaign manager Roger Lau said in an e-mailed message to supporters.
He then asked them to “close your eyes and picture Wall Street bankers scowling into their catered breakfast” once they heard about Warren’s cash intake.
Some 300,000 donors to Warren in the last quarter were giving to the progressive senator for the first time, reportedly.
The fundraising totals answered a key question for Warren’s campaign: “whether she would be able to match her rise in polls with the resources needed to sustain her campaign in key primary states,” said the same outlet.
By contrast, Biden’s fundraising numbers were anemic.
The former vice president’s campaign says he raised $15.2 million — but the gap in financial assets here “threatens to erode Biden’s argument that he is the most electable Democrat.”
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Sanders, for his part, experienced chest discomfort during a campaign event he was holding in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday.
Bernie Sanders is 78.
He has now had two stents inserted to address a blockage that doctors found in an artery after he was hospitalized, his campaign announced and multiple outlets are reporting on Wednesday mid-morning.
“Sen. Sanders is conversing and in good spirits.”
“He will be resting up over the next few days,” Sanders’ senior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement.
“We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates,” he also noted.
Separately, on Friday morning President Donald Trump said to reporters that he never thought Biden “was going to win” the Democratic nomination.
He said of Biden, “He got taken off the garbage heap by [Barack] Obama” earlier in his career, added Trump to media members on Friday.
“I don’t think he would be, frankly, my toughest opponent,” added Trump.
“Just to finish off, I don’t think he will win,” said Trump of Biden.
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