Andrew Yang raised $16.5 million from October through December, a demonstration of his surge in enthusiasm for and national attention directed toward his outsider campaign.
The sum is $6.5 million more than Yang’s $10 million third-quarter haul, bringing his total number of individual campaign donors to 400,000 and average donation size to $30. His campaign did not reveal its cash-on-hand but said that the fundraising surge would allow the campaign to place television and digital ads, campaign staff, and infrastructure in early nominating contest states.
“At every turn in this race, Andrew Yang continues to exceed expectations whether it’s in terms of grassroots fundraising, making the debates, early state polling, or the ability to draw big crowds,” Yang’s campaign chief Nick Ryan said Thursday. “What we have achieved together to date through the humanity first values of this campaign, now sets us up to compete through the early-state primaries, Super Tuesday, and beyond.”
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg raised $24.7 million, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $34.5 million in the final quarter of the year. Other candidates have not yet revealed their fundraising hauls.
Yang, a New York entrepreneur, who advocates for a $1,000 per month universal basic income to every American in response to the impact of automation on the economy, was unknown nationally before his outsider presidential run. But the 44-year-old has outlasted and outraised many of the traditional politicians in the 2020 presidential field, surprising much of the political establishment.
With the Feb. 3 Iowa caucus only a month away, the first nominating contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, Yang is tied with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar for sixth place with 3.5% support in the RealClearPolitics average of national primary polls.
Yang’s most immediate challenge is qualifying for the Jan. 14 Democratic presidential debate in Iowa, which requires candidates to secure 225,000 individual donors and meet a polling threshold of 5% support in four Democratic National Committee-approved state or national primary polls or 7% support in two single-state polls. He has met the donor threshold but has just one 5% qualifying poll.
[Also read: Julian Castro drops out of 2020 Democratic presidential race]
