Bernie Sanders Smokes Rivals on Fundraising

Bernie Sanders just had the best fundraising quarter of any Democratic candidate in 2019: He pulled in $34.5 million in the final three months of the year, reports NBC News. The big number, raised mainly through small donations online, might deliver a "financial jolt" in the Democratic race and serves as evidence that the Sanders campaign is riding a wave of recent momentum, per the Washington Post. Over the entire year, the Sanders campaign said it received more than 5 million contributions, with an average donation of $18, reports Politico. While the quarterly number beats all Democratic rivals, it's short of what President Trump's 2020 campaign raised in the same quarter: $46 million.

Joe Biden has yet to announce his fourth-quarter total, though he's not expected to surpass Sanders. Candidates who've announced their quarterly fundraising totals:

• Pete Buttigieg: $24.7 million
• Elizabeth Warren: $17 million as of last week, though she hoped to hit $20 million
• Andrew Yang: $16.5 million, showing a big uptick; by contrast, he brought in less than $2 million during the first quarter
• Cory Booker: Says he's exceeded the $6 million raised in the previous quarter
• Tulsi Gabbard: $3.4 million

(More Bernie Sanders stories.)