Booker raises $5 million in first quarter of 2020 race

Booker’s total is among the smallest fundraising figures to be voluntarily disclosed so far by a Democratic candidate, though it is still expected to outpace others; nearly a dozen candidates have yet to announce their first-quarter numbers.

Six candidates have released their totals: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said he raised $18.2 million; Sen. Kamala Harris of California raised more than $12 million; former Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised $9.4 million; and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised $7 million. Booker outpaced only political newcomer Andrew Yang, who said he raised $1.7 million.

In addition to the money he raised, Booker has $4.1 million in his Senate campaign account that he is eligible to transfer to a presidential campaign.

Booker declined to disclose how many people had contributed to his campaign or the number of contributions he received. While Booker has long been a talented fundraiser, he entered the 2020 race with far fewer small donors than some of his leading competitors.

“Money is important, but it is definitely not going to be the barometer on which people make their decision on who is going to be the next president of the United States,” Booker said on Sunday, after a town hall event in Londonderry, New Hampshire. “And I’m happy that we have the resources we need to be in this race.”

In a sign of the size of the advantage that Sanders and O’Rourke had entering the race, they each raised about $6 million in their first 24 hours as candidates — more than Booker did in his first two months, even as he traveled the country to headline fundraisers.

Booker’s campaign did say that 82 percent of those who gave since he entered the race in February were new contributors. He also provided the size of the average online donation, $34, but not an overall average.

The full fundraising reports are due on April 15, where candidates cannot selectively pick statistics to make their campaigns appear more formidable.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.