Former Maryland Rep. John Delaney boasted that his Twitter following had “surged” following the first night of the second Democratic presidential debate.
“Following a strong debate performance, Delaney’s Twitter following surged Tuesday night,” Delaney’s campaign announced in a Wednesday press release.
“Delaney saw a 9.8% increase in his number of Twitter followers, the highest percentage increase of any candidate last night, according to analysis by the Delaney campaign,” it continued. “On Tuesday Delaney had 27,704 followers, on Wednesday that number was 30,430.”
John Delaney out with a press release touting his increase in Twitter followers since the debate last night, claiming his 9.8% increase is the highest “percentage increase” of any campaign. He now has roughly 30.5K followers. (Other candidates have far more followers)
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 31, 2019
Even with the “surge” in Twitter followers, Delaney remains one of the least-followed presidential accounts. Only Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet had less followers among candidates participating in the CNN presidential debates.
Delaney’s account following is dwarfed by front-runners Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who has 9.4 million followers and Joe Biden who has 3.6 million followers. Even outsider candidate and spiritual guru Marianne Williamson has 2.75 million followers.
Delaney is currently polling at less than 1% according to RealClearPolitics after spending $19 million on his campaign including $11 million of his own money.
The most talked about moment in the debate involving Delaney came when Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked him why he even bothered running.
“I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for the president of the United States just to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for. I don’t get it,” the Massachusetts Democrat told Delaney.
