Amazing. Bernie Sanders... a hypocrite?
For someone who loves to talk about the millionaires and billionaires, the most popular politician in America sure does have a lot of cash on hand. Early reports also suggest that the avowed socialist candidate has been taking that money directly from other people, known as “donors.” Horrifying.
Per the AP, Sanders raised $3.3 million in the first 10 hours of his campaign, with the funds trickling in from 120,000 individual donors. AP cites a “person familiar with the campaign” who wasn’t authorized to disclose early funding numbers, but regardless, that’s a decent chunk of change. Kamala Harris, the previous 2020 fundraising front-runner, raked in $1.5 million during the first 24 hours of her campaign, according to the AP.
Sanders’ messaging, thus far (literally one announcement ad, but still) has been clear, forceful and focused, something that, to me, seems encouraging for an unavoidably exhausting primary race. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will need a considerable donor base, seeing as Trump has basically been campaigning for 2020, focus-testing attack ads and aggressively soliciting donations since he took office. So far, Bernie’s well-established donor network and consistent groundswell of support appears to be in full swing again.
Update, 8:45 p.m.: Per Politico reporter Zach Montellaro, the Sanders campaign has broken $4 million. Dang!