Politics

Yang campaign expects big fourth-quarter fundraising haul

Key Points
  • Andrew Yang's presidential campaign said it expects to raise more than $12.5 million in the fourth quarter, a sum that would help the entrepreneur remain competitive with the front-runners in the Democratic primary.
  • That haul would show a 25% bump from the $10 million his campaign raised the previous quarter, a campaign spokesman told CNBC on Monday.
  • His most recent flood of campaign cash comes as one of the leading candidates, Elizabeth Warren, sounded the alarm about a slowdown in donations.
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang speaks during the Democratic presidential primary debate at Loyola Marymount University on December 19, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Andrew Yang's presidential campaign said it expects to raise more than $12.5 million in the fourth quarter, a sum that would help the entrepreneur remain competitive with the front-runners in the Democratic primary.

That haul would show a 25% bump from the $10 million his campaign raised the previous quarter, a campaign spokesman told CNBC on Monday.

The fourth fundraising quarter ends on Dec. 31.

Yang, who has never held political office and advocates a universal basic income policy, has outlasted a long list of candidates from the expansive field of Democrats vying to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020.

His most recent flood of campaign cash comes as one of the leading candidates, Elizabeth Warren, sounded the alarm about a slowdown in donations.

S.Y. Lee, a Yang campaign spokesman, told CNBC that the $12.5 million-plus haul "will enable us to keep pace with the establishment campaigns that are likely to outraise us."

Yang himself chimed in on Twitter in a response to CNBC's story, "I think we can beat $12.5 million by a mile."

Yang TWEET

Yang, 44, positions himself as an outsider in the race, focusing on issues other candidates have spent less time addressing, such as the threat of automation to the economy. He's amassed a loyal base of internet-savvy supporters and has earned endorsements from celebrities, including actor and rapper Donald Glover and comedian Ken Jeong.

The RealClearPolitics polling average currently shows Yang with support of about 3.6% of voters, putting him neck and neck with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and ahead of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

Meanwhile, the Warren campaign, which has sworn off big-money donors and has criticized other candidates who welcome them, said in an email to supporters last week that it had raised about $17 million in the fourth quarter.

"That's a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter," the email said. The campaign's goal for the end of the year was to raise $20 million – significantly lower than the $24.6 million she raised in the previous quarter.

The New York Times reported that other top-tier candidates are still significantly outraising Yang in the Democratic primary.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Monday that his campaign received contributions from nearly 5 million donors in the fourth quarter – far more than any other candidate, the Times reported.

Based on his previous average donation of $18, Sanders could expect a windfall of about $26 million in the fourth quarter, according to the Times.

Sanders has inched ahead of Warren in recent national polls, while former Vice President Joe Biden maintains his front-runner status despite a lackluster fundraising effort in the third quarter, in which his campaign raised about $15 million.

South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the youngest candidate in the race, raised more than $19 million in the previous quarter. His gains in popularity and campaign cash during that period preceded a volley of attacks from Warren and Klobuchar during the most recent debate.

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— CNBC's Brian Schwartz contributed to this report.