Beto O'Rourke's fundraising weakens as 2020 Democrats announce finances



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The gap between rich and poor in the Democratic presidential primary is widening – and Beto O'Rourke has landed on the worrisome side of the dividing line.

Mr. O'Rourke, who entered the race in March with the promise of being the best candidate and a financial power, failed dramatically during the second quarter fundraiser, announcing Monday that he had cashed only $ 3.6 million. The sum was a fraction of what the leaders brought.

In fact, Mr. O'Rourke's total expenses for the 90-day period were significantly less than he had accumulated during his first 24 hours as a candidate, whereas he had received 6.1 millions of dollars.

"We had a lot of that early energy," O'Rourke campaign manager Jennifer O'Malley Dillon said in an interview Monday evening. "We did not have an organization that could take advantage of that. And that's what we built. "

The goal of O'Rourke's campaign was to rally pro-poor protesters in the days leading up to the release of his figures last Monday.

"Sometimes you're upstairs, sometimes down," wrote digital director Rob Flaherty in an email to fans last week. "Sometimes you are Hootie and sometimes you are the Blowfish."

Mr. O'Rourke's totals place him firmly outside the group of leading candidates in a group of two dozen Democrats who revealed the financial situation of their campaigns on Monday. The second quarter races confirmed what recent polls have shown: the race has stratified into clear levels.

At the top are five candidates who regularly win 5% of the vote at the polls, and they are the only ones to total at least $ 10 million in the second quarter: Pete Buttigieg, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Senators Elizabeth Warren , Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. Together, they raised nearly $ 100 million.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey announced a modest $ 4.5 million, placing it second best, followed by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who raised $ 3.9 million. dollars, followed by Mr. O. Rourke.

Several candidates hoping to gain ground announced lower totals reflecting the difficult nature of their campaigns. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington collected $ 3 million, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York received $ 2.3 million and former governor John Hickenlooper of Colorado raised $ 1.15 million. All three of them spent more money than they had amassed – an annoying sign at the beginning of the race – along with Mr. O'Rourke, Mr. Booker and Ms. Klobuchar.

Money is the cornerstone of political campaigns, allowing candidates to travel, hire staff and pay for advertising. Low fundraising totals can create a vicious circle in which donors, large and small, reduce their donations, threatening the candidate's ability to move to the primaries and caucuses in several months. Add to that the threshold of 130,000 donors required for the September debate, and a lack of funding could significantly reduce the scope of the two dozens within a few months.

For now, 37-year-old Buterness Butyr, the mayor of South Bend, Indonesia, was pretty much aware of the money race, but he was pretty much unknown. It raised $ 24.8 million in the last quarter. Mr. Buttigieg has emerged as the star of the surprise fundraiser cycle, one of the favorites of major consolidators who collect $ 2,800 and smaller donors who pay $ 200 or less (Buttigieg says) more than 400,000 contributors up to now).

The next was Mr. Biden, the former vice-president; ($ 21.5 million); Mrs. Warren ($ 19.1 million); Mr. Sanders ($ 18 million); and Ms. Harris (almost $ 12 million).

Warren and Sanders, two of the most virulent progressives in the contest, rejected the very expensive fundraisers and focused almost exclusively on small donors and online donors. This strategy helped Sanders become a heavyweight in finance in 2016, but Ms. Warren notably surpassed last quarter, after tripling his first quarter sales figure.

As Democrats gather millions of dollars for a growing primary, President Trump and the Republican National Committee announced Monday that they had already raised $ 123 million for the 2020 campaign.

One of the biggest mysteries of the quarterly reporting period was Mr. O'Rourke's trip. Political insiders have been whispering for weeks that he would report a depressed figure, indicating how much momentum has been losing momentum since March for the former Texas congressman.

The result was worse than even most expectations, and far less than the $ 9.4 million that he collected in 18 days in the first quarter.

While O'Rourke broke record-breaking records as a Senate candidate running against Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2018 – he had raised $ 80 million – he found it more difficult to sledge against his fellow Democrats.

Some of the key advisers to her Senate term in 2018 have already left the country and a new team led by Ms. O'Malley Dillon is still under construction in El Paso, her hometown. Ms. Dillon did not join Mr. O'Rourke until after the announcement, which is unusual for presidential campaigns.

While some candidates had gathered what were called waiting campaigns by 2018, O'Rourke continues to develop the highest level of his operation; a The national press officer and a national policy director have only joined us in the last few weeks.

And while Ms. Harris, Mr. Biden and Mr. Buttigieg have maintained a particularly aggressive schedule of very expensive fundraising with $ 1,000 entry fees, Mr. O. Rourke has organized very little such events – until mid-quarter. Mr. O'Rourke recently named his first National Finance Director, and his campaign invited donors Monday to an event in New York next week.

Mr. O. Rourke inherited from a massive list of former supporters of his Senate race, which he knew how to use to fulfill long-standing Democratic National Committee requirements regarding 130 000 donors for the third round of debate – a threshold that Mr Booker, Mrs Klobuchar and Mrs Gillibrand have still not met.

Mr. O'Rourke continued to draw crowds during the election campaign, but he sought out an answer to the question of why he – a White, a former Congressman with three terms – was best placed to occupy the Presidency and deserve it. On Sunday, in an unusual note addressed to his supporters, he revealed that he and his wife are the descendants of slave owners, while writing that he "would support the reparations".

"I benefit from a system that my ancestors built to favor each other at the expense of others," he wrote in a note that appeared to be timely in anticipation of the publication of an article in The Guardian on his ancestors.

Campaign financial reports also detail expenses. Ms. Gillibrand spent $ 4.2 million, nearly $ 2 million more than she has amassed. But she still had $ 8.2 million in the bank on July 1, thanks to the funds that she had previously transferred from her previous Senate races.

Julián Castro, the former Housing Secretary, spent $ 2.3 million and was about to spend more than he had reported until the first debate. It raised $ 1.1 million over the next four days, bringing the total to $ 2.8 million.

There do not seem to be enough large or small donors to financially support all Democratic candidates. Already, a candidate, the representative Eric Swalwell of California, has abandoned his work. Another representative, Tim Ryan, from Ohio, said he had raised less than $ 900,000, far less than is needed for a viable national campaign. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has raised only $ 1.1 million.

Other nominees who announced their fundraisers include Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado ($ 2.8 million), entrepreneur Andrew Yang ($ 2.8 million) and Governor Steve Bullock of Montana ( $ 2 million).

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