WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) — raked in $44 million in donations to his Democratic presidential campaign in March, his largest monthly total so far, the campaign said.
Sanders raised $43.5 million in February. Sanders has made a point during campaign events of noting the majority of his donations come in small denominations, not from wealthy individuals or corporations.
“What this campaign is doing is bringing together millions of people contributing an average of just $27 each to take on a billionaire class, which is so used to buying elections,” Sanders said in a statement on his campaign website. “Working people standing together are going to propel this campaign to the Democratic nomination and then the White House.”
March was an up-and-down month for Sanders on the campaign trail. It began with his upset in Michigan, where polls showed him trailing front-runner Hillary Clinton badly in the days leading up to the vote. He was then swept in five states on March 15, including in the general election battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio. The month concluded with Sanders going three-for-three in Washington state, Alaska and Hawaii.
Clinton has not released fundraising numbers for March. Her campaign said she raised $30 million in February for her official campaign account, Hillary for America. That does not include donations to a super PAC supporting her campaign, though, by law, she cannot direct how that money is spent on her behalf.
Sanders, who has called for overturning a Supreme Court decision allowing for the formation of super PACs, does not have one supporting his campaign.
Candidates for president are required to file quarterly fundraising reports with the Federal Elections Commission. Sanders volunteered he raised $109 million in the first quarter of 2016. No other candidates’ FEC filings have been released.
