Don’t look now, but Pete Buttigieg has more contributors in Connecticut than Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Kirsten Gillibrand.
Surging in the Democratic presidential polls for 2020, the South Bend, Ind., mayor and Afghanistan war veteran also out-raised a number of more established Democrats from Jan. 1 to March 31 in Connecticut, which is often referred to as the ATM of politics.
Buttigieg, a Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar who is openly gay, is now second in a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire of primary voters there.
He raised $28,016 from 76 contributors in Connecticut, according to the Federal Election Commission. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York raised $81,553 from 74 donors and $55,596 from 68 donors, respectively, during the first quarter.
Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who gained national attention for his unsuccessful Senate challenge of Ted Cruz last year in Texas, had the most donors. He raised $44,733 from 116 contributors.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota raised $14,941 from 66 donors and $21,730 from 57 donors, respectively.
Sanders, who is trying to replicate the momentum he had in 2016, raised $1,389 from 30 donors, many of whom gave $27 in a nod to the average donation amount during the last presidential election.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii raised $1,909 from 12 contributors.
Sen. Kamala Harris of California did not report raising any funds during the first quarter in Connecticut. Neither did Julian Castro, the former San Antonio mayor and former Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Barack Obama.
The Democratic field is only going to get more crowded with Wednesday’s expected campaign kickoff by former Vice President Joe Biden.
A combined 554 Connecticut donors gave $65,090 to a pair of fundraising committees supporting President Donald Trump during the first quarter: the Make American Great Again Committee and the Trump Victory Committee.
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