Bernie Sanders has reached a goal of 1 million donations to his campaign – and counting.
The Vermont senator’s campaign noted the achievement 12 hours before the books were to close at midnight Wednesday on the fundraising quarter, noting that there was still time “to send a powerful message about the strength of our movement.”
Sanders’ campaign manager followed the announcement up with a fundraising email appeal, telling donors “we can send an unmistakable message about the size and strength of our political revolution to the political media who have dismissed us for too long.”
President Barack Obama hit a similar milestone in his 2008 campaign, propelled by grassroots support – but Sanders beat him by months.
Sanders’ campaign said late Wednesday that he’d raised $25.5 million for the quarter – and had received about 1.3 million donations from 650,000 donors since the campaign began.
Campaign manager Jeff Weaver was asking donors to contribute $24.86 – the average donation the campaign had received in the past week.
Clinton raised three times as much money in the last fundraising quarter, a record $47 million, while Sanders raised $15.2 million, including $1.5 million transferred from his Senate campaign. Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist, raised more of his money from small donations than Clinton did, however.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story and headline gave the wrong number of donors to Sanders’ campaign.
Lesley Clark: 202-383-6054, @lesleyclark