Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has $10.2M in cash for White House bid, campaign says
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, above, at her presidential campaign kickoff in March, has $10.2 million cash on hand, her campaign said Sunday. Credit: AP / Julius Motal
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand raised $3 million in the first months of her bid for the White House and has $10.2 million cash on hand, her campaign said Sunday.
The fundraising figure puts the New York Democrat in eighth place among the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates who have released their first-quarter numbers. Ahead of her are the five other U.S. senators running for president and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana.
Gillibrand's campaign sought to focus on what she has left to spend and on the small-dollar donors supporting her.
Communications director Meredith Kelly tweeted that Gillibrand's cash on hand places her in the top four at this early stage of the race.
"Kirsten is in a stronger financial position than the vast majority of candidates in the field and she is ready for the long campaign ahead," Kelly said in a statement.
In a tweet that included a graphic titled "What We've Built Together," Gillibrand sought to highlight that the average online donation to her campaign was $25, that contributions of less than $50 comprised 83 percent of donations and nearly two-thirds were from women.
Gillibrand’s campaign war chest includes $9.6 million transferred from her successful 2018 Senate re-election bid, Kelly said.
Gillibrand, 52, of upstate Brunswick, has struggled in the early stages of the campaign to break through the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates. She has polled consistently at 1 percent nationally. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not formally announced his bid, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and O'Rourke have polled consistently in the double digits as the top three potential nominees.
Compared with Gillibrand's $3 million, Sanders' haul for the first quarter was $18.2 million, Sen. Kamala Harris of California raised $12 million, and O'Rourke brought in $9.4 million, their campaigns said. The Federal Election Commission's first-quarter reporting deadline is Monday, and campaigns often voluntarily release their results ahead of time.
Gillibrand launched an exploratory committee in mid-January and officially kicked off her campaign for the White House in mid-March.
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