Sen. Amy Klobuchar raised $4.8 million in the third quarter of 2019, her 2020 presidential campaign announced Monday.
The haul bests the $3.87 million the Minnesota Democrat raised in the second quarter of 2019, but is smaller than the $5.2 million that Klobuchar raised in the first quarter of the year.
Klobuchar’s third quarter fundraising number pales in comparison to the $25.3 million that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders raised or the $24.6 million that Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought in, and it will likely land Klobuchar in the middle of the 2020 Democratic field. But it is better than the $2.1 million raised by Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and the $2.3 million raised by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.
Like a number of her competitors, the senator raised her third quarter haul with a mix of in-person fundraising and online donations. Klobuchar’s average donation this quarter was $29.78 and almost 90% of donor gave less than $100, her campaign said. The haul came from more than 105,000 donors.
Klobuchar, after launching her presidential campaign in February, has qualified for all three of the Democratic primary debates and will be on stage for the October debate hosted by CNN.
The Minnesota Democrat has yet to qualify for November’s debate, according to her campaign. The senator has surpassed the 165,000 unique donors needed to qualify, but she has yet to meet the polling threshold set by the Democratic National Committee.
“Our campaign used the third quarter to make aggressive investments in our early state campaign infrastructure. These investments, along with stand-out debate performances from Senator Klobuchar and effective organizing across the early states, enabled us to easily meet the debate thresholds for September and October and surpass the required unique donor number for the November debate,” said Justin Buoen, Klobuchar’s campaign manager.
“None of that would have been possible without the outpouring of grassroots support we received from Americans who believe in Amy’s unifying, optimistic message,” Buoen added. “As we head into the final quarter of 2019, we continue to build momentum and a strong grassroots operation that can win in 2020.”
Klobuchar released her first TV ad earlier this month, making the case in an Iowa and New Hampshire spot that she is best to be president for “all of America.”
“If you feel stuck in the middle of the extremes in our politics and you are tired of the noise and the nonsense, you’ve got a home with me,” Klobuchar says in the ad. “I am someone who tells the truth, I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Klobuchar, asked by reporters about her fundraising on Sunday, said, “We have money in the bank and that is why we are running ads.”
Klobuchar also took a shot at New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker during her conversation with reporters, knocking him for telling supporters that if he didn’t raise $1.7 million in the final days of the quarter he would drop out. Booker met that goal and ended up raising about $6 million total in the third quarter.
“People are going to use different fundraising pitches. I wouldn’t have used that one. You know why? Because I am staying in this race until the end,” Klobuchar said. “And I’m not going to put out threats about getting out of it. But I guess that worked for him to raise some money.”