Elizabeth Warren implored supporters to step up campaign donations as the end of the presidential fundraising quarter looms on Dec. 31, citing a sharp drop-off from three months ago.
“So far this quarter, we’ve raised a little over $17 million,” the Massachusetts senator said in an email Friday.
“That’s a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter,” Warren said, noting it’s 30% behind where the campaign was in late September.
Warren’s drop in fundraising tracks with her decline in the polls. She led the Democratic field, at 15 candidates, as recently as October. But her polling edge faded fast amid questions over how her “Medicare for all” healthcare plan would be paid for.
Warren is not holding fundraising events with wealthy donors and has made rival candidates’ fundraising practices an issue. At the Dec. 19 Democratic debate in Los Angeles, the former Harvard Law School professor feuded with South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg over his donor base. Warren slammed Buttigieg, 37, for hosting a fundraiser with rich donors at a California wine cave.
[Read: What exactly is a wine cave?]
The Washington Examiner reported on Monday that, until last year, Warren’s campaign engaged in similar fundraising practices. Warren’s PAC for a Level Playing Field spent lavishly at New York City’s Gramercy Tavern, a Michelin-starred restaurant listing burgundy wines for as high as $6,600, between December 2014 and October 2017.
Warren raised more than $24 million during the third quarter and was only outpaced by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a socialist who shuns wealthy donors but managed to rake in $25 million.
On Oct. 8, Warren briefly held the RealClearPolitics top national polling spot when she registered 26.6% to former Vice President Joe Biden’s 26.4%, well within an average margin of error. Her polling numbers have been in decline ever since.
