Buttigieg announces $24.7 million fundraising haul in fourth quarter

Pete Buttigieg (D), Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Photo Date: November 2, 2019
Originally Published: 01 JAN 20 06:41 ET

(CNN) -- Pete Buttigieg raised more than $24.7 million during the final three months of 2019, his campaign announced early Wednesday morning -- cementing his standing as one of the fundraising leaders of the 2020 Democratic presidential race.

The amount Buttigieg collected exceeds the $19.2 million that the outgoing South Bend, Indiana, mayorraised during the previous three-month period. Buttigieg is the first candidate to disclose his year-end fundraising total, as he seeks to demonstrate financial strength before primary voting kicks off in February.

In all, Buttigieg raised more than $76 million from more than 733,000 individuals in the last year, his campaign manager Mike Schmuhl said in a memo. He said the campaign has used the money to build a staff of more than 500 people nationwide and open 65 field offices in early voting states.

"Pete has demonstrated that he has the appeal, message, and leadership to build a winning organization to not only secure the nomination, but to defeat Donald Trump this year," Schmuhl said.

The campaign did not disclose how much money Buttigieg has remaining in the bank. The nomination battle kicks off next month with the Iowa caucuses on February 3.

Other candidates have offered clues about their fundraising in recent days.

In a rare move, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's campaign publicly announced late last month that it had collected more than $17 million. Candidates typically keep those numbers private, but Warren's campaign released an early number in a bid to encourage supporters to help her hit the $20 million mark by year's end.

On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker's campaign manager tweeted that the New Jersey Democrat would post the "best fundraising quarter" of his presidential campaign during the last three months of the year. If Booker does so, he will exceed the $6 million he raised during the third quarter of the year. But Booker has consistently lagged behind the top fundraisers in the battle for his party's nomination.

Tuesday was the last day of the fundraising quarter. Candidates have until January 31 to disclose the details of their fundraising and spending to the Federal Election Commission.

The-CNN-Wire
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