Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders raised $3 million in one day, following Monday night's Iowa caucuses, the campaign said Tuesday.
"It's been our best day ever," Sanders communications director Michael Briggs told The Washington Post. Sanders benefited from as much as 40 percent new donors, who, according to the campaign, were energized by the Vermont senator's performance in Iowa. Sanders finished behind rival Hillary Clinton by the tiniest margin of 0.2 points in the early voting state's contest in which Clinton had 49.8 percent and Sanders took 49.6 percent.
The Sanders campaign said on Sunday that it had raised $20 million for the month of January from a record-setting number of small donors. The campaign says that more than 770,000 individuals contributed over the month with an average of $27 per contribution, putting donations past the 3.2 million mark, according to USA Today. The campaign also said that 99.9 percent of the donors gave less than the maximum limit, making them eligible to contribute more later in the race.
The Sanders camp immediately sought to compare their fundraising feat to Clinton's efforts, saying, "Working Americans chipping in a few dollars each month are not only challenging but beating the greatest fundraising machine ever assembled," The Hill reported.
"As Secretary Clinton holds high-dollar fundraisers with the nation's financial elite, our supporters have stepped up in a way that allows Bernie to spend the critical days before the caucuses talking to Iowans about his plans to fix a rigged economy and end a corrupt system of campaign finance," campaign manager Jeff Weaver said, according to Politico.
