Warren 2020 fundraising beats Biden, rivals Sanders in Q3

Democrat Elizabeth Warren raised a solid $24.6 million in third-quarter contributions to her 2020 White House campaign, her office said, easily outraising frontrunner Joe Biden and rivalling fellow progressive Bernie Sanders. The July-to-September haul came from 943,000 donations with an average contribution of USD 26, Senator Warren's presidential campaign said in a statement.

Warren, who has risen dramatically in the polls in recent months and is now battling Biden for the top spot in the Democratic nomination race, has prided herself on not accepting contributions from corporations or holding closed-door fundraisers with wealthy donors. "Instead, she got to spend her time traveling across the country, hosting town halls, taking tens of thousands of selfies, and hearing directly from people about what's on their minds -- and people like you chipped in to help make it possible," Warren campaign manager Roger Lau said.

The numbers are in line with the massive haul claimed by fellow Senator Sanders, who raked in USD 25.3 million for the period, the most of any Democratic 2020 candidate. The 78-year-old Sanders put his White House bid on hold this week to be treated for a blocked artery -- but his wife said Thursday he was recovering well and plans to participate in this month's Democratic debate.

Sanders announced his fundraising figures earlier in the week but on Friday noted the historic nature of his candidacy, which his campaign said has had to fight the establishment "doubt" that he can win the White House. "At this point in the campaign, Bernie has received more contributions from more individuals than any candidate in the history of American presidential politics," campaign manager Faiz Shakir said.

But Republicans are quick to claim that they are leading the 2020 money race. The Republican National Committee said that it and Donald Trump's re-election campaign raised a stunning combined total of USD 125 million in the third quarter, a presidential fundraising record.

Biden, whose campaign has struggled to retain pole position over the past month, announced Thursday that he had raised USD 15.2 million for the quarter, behind Sanders, Warren and South Bend, Indiana's centrist Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who raised over USD 19 million. Biden in recent weeks has been caught in the maelstrom as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry over accusations he pressed Ukraine for damaging information on the former vice president and his son. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)