Pete Buttigieg's campaign raises eye-popping $24.8M in second-quarter
Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg raised $24.8 million in the second quarter of 2019, the campaign said on Monday, a haul that is likely to put the South Bend, Indiana mayor’s fundraising operations ahead of many competitors for the White House.
Over 400,000 individuals have donated to Buttigieg’s campaign, including 230,000 new donors in the most recent quarter.
“You inspire us every step of the way, and we're just getting started,” he said in a tweet.
With $22.6 million cash on hand, Buttigieg has a financial war chest that will allow him to compete against other candidates like Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and former Vice President Joe Biden who entered the race with much higher name recognition.
All the candidates are required to report their second-quarter hauls by July 15.
In the first quarter of 2019, Buttigieg’s fundraising efforts lagged behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, Harris and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, whose campaign has faltered after a fiery start. Biden had not yet entered the race.
Buttigieg has faced criticism over the fatal shooting of a black man in South Bend by a white police officer. The episode reignited concerns over his management of the force and relationship with the city’s African-American community.
In response to a question on the issue in last week’s Democratic debate, Buttigieg said the city has taken steps such as bias training and de-escalation but none of those efforts saved Eric Logan’s life.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
“Until we move policing out from the shadow of systemic racism, whatever this particular incident teaches us, we will be left with the bigger problem of the fact that there’s a wall of mistrust put up by one racist act at a time,” he said.