As Democratic presidential candidates continue to report third-quarter fundraising numbers, one candidate is experiencing a seismic shift in momentum that dwarfs his competitors.
Unlike former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Kamala Harris and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who all saw their fundraising totals fall in dollar amount from their second-quarter hauls, 2020 hopeful and entrepreneur Andrew Yang more than tripled the cash his campaign brought in.
At a 257% quarterly jump from $2.8 million to $10 million in the third quarter, Yang posted the largest percentage gain in fundraising among all Democrats to report so far, and even topped the 19% quarterly gain by President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
To be fair, any increase from a relatively smaller starting amount, like Yang’s $2.8 million, will manifest in a rather outlandish percentage gain. The same, for example, could be said about author and 2020 candidate Marianne Williamson’s 100% spike to hit $3 million in third-quarter funding — an amount she first shared with Yahoo Finance. But at $10 million, Yang quietly just moved into the so-called top tier of candidates for the first time. It’s just $1 million shy of the amount Harris’ campaign brought in over the same quarter.
“This grassroots fundraising total, with more than $6 million in the bank, ensures this campaign will have the funding to compete and outperform expectations through Super Tuesday and beyond,” Zach Graumann, Yang’s campaign manager, told the New York Times.
Yet, while the monetary victory is no doubt a giant shift in momentum for Yang’s campaign — it hasn’t yet been matched by an as large of a jump in Yang’s polling. While his 3% polling is a large jump from the 1% in months past, according to a Real Clear Politics national average, it’s still not enough to top Buttigieg or Harris in the so-called second tier of polling positions. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, along with Biden are currently in a polling league of their own as the only candidates to each top 15% on a national level.
However, with the fourth Democratic debate fast approaching on October 15, Yang will look to build on the momentum he established with his last performance, in which he doubled down on his so-called “Freedom Dividend” by announcing a $120,000 annual cash giveaway for 10 lucky families.
With $6 million in cash on hand, Yang now has a bit more cash to throw around.
Zack Guzman is the host of YFi PM as well as a senior writer and on-air reporter covering entrepreneurship, cannabis, startups, and breaking news at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @zGuz.
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