Sanders marketing campaign posts a $46.5 million February fundraising haul

Regardless of coming in second in Saturday’s South Carolina main, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) continues to be placing up monster fundraising numbers.

Sanders’s marketing campaign announced they’ve raised $46.5 million in February, the biggest month-to-month sum any Democratic candidate has raised thus far this cycle. It’ll guarantee Sanders stays aggressive because the marketing campaign shifts from the early states to a nationwide main — a change that requires substantial cash to succeed in voters in a number of states with adverts.

Along with the adverts the Sanders marketing campaign is already operating in Tremendous Tuesday states, the cash will assist gasoline a big Sanders advert purchase in states beyond next Tuesday’s contests: The marketing campaign has introduced advert buys in 5 states voting on March 10, in addition to 4 giant states voting March 17: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio.

Fueled by a military of grassroots supporters, Sanders has persistently been the highest fundraiser of the 2020 cycle, however he’s not the one aggressive candidate. The marketing campaign of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) raised $29 million in February after her rousing debate efficiency in Nevada. And after decisively winning the South Carolina primary on Saturday night, former Vice President Joe Biden’s marketing campaign introduced it raised $5 million in a single day.

However regardless of this spectacular fundraising, Sanders has a financial benefit that different candidates appear unable to match. Because the New York Instances’ Shane Goldmacher tweeted, Sanders’s haul within the first two months of 2020 dwarfed Biden’s fundraising within the earlier 12 months.

Being flush with marketing campaign money is vital throughout this stretch of the first; it’s the second the Democratic main will shift from revolving across the small, retail-style politics of the early states to a so-called “tarmac marketing campaign” the place candidates are flying to a number of states to do massive rallies, and should depend on adverts to get their messages to voters.

That is the part of the marketing campaign the place successful sufficient races to get delegates is the principle factor that issues. Reaching voters takes cash, and a variety of crucial Tremendous Tuesday states, like California and Texas, have very giant and costly media markets.

“It’s a digital nationwide main as a result of there are such a lot of states,” longtime California Democratic advisor Invoice Carrick told Vox in a recent interview. “The mathematics itself modifications, and each community has some form of chart exhibiting the projected delegate rely.”

Sanders and billionaire former New York Metropolis Mayor Michael Bloomberg have a particular money benefit going into Tremendous Tuesday, due to Sanders’s seemingly unstoppable grassroots fundraising and Bloomberg’s huge money reserves. How that benefit interprets into vote totals and delegate math stays to be seen, however each candidates have seen robust nationwide polling in current weeks as Sanders picked up victories in early states and Bloomberg’s promoting spending topped $500 million.

And the robust fundraising hauls from different candidates are a reminder the race will not be over but — Biden and Warren (and different candidates like former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg) are signaling they’re aggressive sufficient to remain within the race longer.