Montana Gov. Steve Bullock raised $2 million for his presidential bid in the second quarter of 2019, the campaign announced on Friday.
Bullock, who entered the race in mid-May, had only a month in a half to raise funds for his campaign. But despite a solid second quarter fundraising clip, the Montana Democrat has a lot of catching up to do.
Former Vice President Joe Biden — who joined the race in late April — raised $21.5 million in the period. South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who had the entire quarter to fundraise, posted the largest announced total so far, with $24.8 million. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders brought in $18 million with an entire quarter to fundraise, and also transferred $6 million to his presidential campaign from other campaign accounts.
Bullock’s haul is comparable to Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who entered the race in early May, and who raised $2.8 million in the period in addition to a $700,000 transfer of funds from his Senate account.
Bullock’s campaign noted in its announcement that his $2 million haul came “without any transfers from other funds.”
“Since announcing his campaign in mid-May, Governor Bullock received grassroots support from all 50 states and raised over $2 million, without the transfer of other funds. It’s clear Governor Bullock’s message of winning back places Democrats lost in 2016 and ending dark money’s corrupting influence will resonate in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and he will continue working to earn every vote,” Bullock’s campaign manager said in a statement.
The campaign did not provide any information on the average contribution size or the number of unique donors. The latter is an especially crucial metric, since Bullock will need 65,000 unique donors to help secure a spot on the stage for the second Democratic presidential debates; for the third debates, the threshold rises to 130,000.
