Sanders’ total exceeds those of the two other candidates who have already released their fundraising numbers for the first quarter of the year, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Harris’ campaign said Monday night that she had raised $12 million in the first quarter, while Buttigieg announced early Monday that he had raised more than $7 million. Both candidates entered the race in January, several weeks before Sanders announced his candidacy.
Another formidable fundraiser, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, has yet to announce his total for the quarter. Presidential candidates must report their first-quarter fundraising to the Federal Election Commission by April 15.
Sanders began the race with the benefit of an enormous donor base that he developed during the 2016 presidential campaign, when he raised well over $200 million. After jumping into the 2020 race Feb. 19, he quickly reminded his rivals of his large following, collecting $5.9 million in the first 24 hours and a total of $10 million within a week.
The Sanders campaign had set a goal of receiving 1 million individual donations by the end of the first quarter. It told supporters in an email last week that the average donation so far had been about $20.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.