Spotlight Brightens as Buttigieg Fills His Coffers

South Bend mayor raises $7M in 3 months
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2019 11:49 AM CDT
Buttigieg Surprises With Fundraising Haul
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to a crowd in Greenville, SC, on March 23, 2019.   (AP Photo/Richard Shiro)

"Mayor Pete" has some serious momentum. South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg raised more than $7 million in the first quarter of 2019 for his presidential campaign. The fundraising total revealed Monday is $5 million less than Kamala Harris raised in Q1, and the figure will likely be dwarfed by Beto O'Rourke and Bernie Sanders when their numbers are released—but it's notable for a longshot candidate who had little name recognition when his campaign began, notes the Guardian. The 37-year-old Buttigieg still trails much of the pack in polls—he drew 4% support in a national Quinnipiac University poll out last week, while another recent poll has him climbing from 0% to 6% support among Iowa Democrats.

Still, his "numbers are the stuff of a very real organic phenomenon that establishes him as a surging candidate who has achieved real liftoff," GOP consultant Rob Stutzman tells Politico. The candidate agrees. "We (you) are out-performing expectations at every turn," tweeted Buttigieg in regard to the fundraising amount. He plans to double his staff from 20 to 40, and he's already qualified for the Democratic primary debates with more than 65,000 individual donors. Meanwhile, Axios notes that he's "generating more social media interest on a per article basis than any of his rivals," and lays out the details on that. (Here is how you pronounce his name.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X