Pete Buttigieg raised $24.8 million in the second quarter of 2019 and has $22.6 million in cash-on-hand, his campaign announced, a haul expected to place him among the top of the Democratic presidential hopefuls for the quarter that just ended.
After raising $7 million in the first quarter of this year, commentators wondered whether the South Bend, Indiana mayor, who was essentially unknown nationwide, could sustain momentum from buzz generated through a media-heavy strategy during the early months of his exploratory committee and campaign.
Buttigieg’s second fundraising quarter helps him to cement his place in the top tier of Democratic presidential candidates. He is polling in fifth place at 6.5% nationwide, according to RealClearPolitics‘ polling average, up from 1.9% at the end of the first quarter on April 1.
“This organization grew bigger and faster than we could have ever imagined,” Buttigieg, 37, said in a video posted on Twitter Monday about the fundraising numbers.
“This fundraising report shows that Pete’s message is resonating with Americans, and it’s proof that we are building an organization that can compete,” Pete for America campaign manager Mike Schmuhl wrote in an email to supporters Monday.
Buttigieg is the first candidate the crowded Democratic field to announce his second fundraising quarter haul. The April-through-June quarter ended with candidates making frantic last-minute appeals for contributions. The cash is important not just to fund travel and other campaign logistics, but to participate in the second round of the Democratic National Committee’s debate schedule, July 30-31 in Detroit.
Over 294,000 donors contributed in the second quarter, the campaign said, more than double the 158,550 donors who gave in the first quarter. In total, over 400,000 individuals from all 57 states and territories donated to Buttigieg’s campaign this year, with an average contribution size of $47.42.
Though Buttigieg’s campaign is in a comfortable spot financially, he faces challenges.
Polling shows he has little support from black voters, who make up the majority of Democratic primary voters in South Carolina, an early primary state. A poll of Democratic primary voters in South Carolina found Buttigieg with 6% support among black voters in June, up from 0% in May.
Buttigieg faced criticism from other candidates during the first Democratic presidential debate last week and from his city’s residents for his management of the South Bend Police Department in the wake of a white police officer killing a black man in June. There are fewer black South Bend police officers now than there were in 2012, when Buttigieg took office.
“You running for president and you expect black people to vote for you?” one protester in South Bend told Buttigieg following the police shooting.
“We had an amazing quarter, but our work is far from over,” Schmuhl said in the email to supporters.
