AUSTIN, Texas _ Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke raised about $3.6 million in the second quarter, his campaign reported late Monday, a surprisingly small amount for the candidate who hauled in an impressive $9.4 million in the last 18 days of March alone and more than $80 million during his unsuccessful Senate bid last year.
That relatively lackluster haul places him in the company of 16 other Democratic presidential hopefuls who raised less than $5 million in the second quarter _ a tier below Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California, who all raised at least $12 million.
"I won't sugar coat it: we have work to do," O'Rourke's campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a written statement Monday night. "We have the resources we need to be in this for the long haul, but if we don't raise more this quarter, we'll have no choice but to make some adjustments."
In an interview on CNN Monday night, O'Malley Dillon chalked up the lagging fundraising numbers, in part, to the campaign's strategy at the beginning of the campaign of holding small, in-person events instead of building up its operations. She said that decision left the campaign with a small staff at O'Rourke's El Paso headquarters that couldn't effectively respond to the candidate's political momentum when he first entered the race.
Still, O'Malley Dillon emphasized in her statement Monday that "campaigns aren't about how you're doing at any particular moment _ they're about how you build over time" and noted that she's proud that O'Rourke's campaign is "truly funded by people _ not PACs, lobbyists, or special interests."
O'Rourke's $3.6 million in April, May and June came from roughly 120,000 donations, with an average amount of $30, according to his campaign. That means that about 200,000 donors have contributed to O'Rourke's campaign so far and that O'Rourke has satisfied the Democratic National Committee's requirement of 130,000 unique donors to participate in the fall primary debates. In a bit of positive news for O'Rourke, almost half of his second quarter contributors _ 48% _ were new donors. More worrisome for the campaign, it spent about $1.7 million more than it took in. The campaign ended the three-month period with more than $5 million in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records.
That's more than Texas' other presidential hopeful Julian Castro, who ended the second quarter with roughly $1.1 million in cash on hand after adding $2.8 million to his campaign war chest, more than double his first quarter haul.
But both Texans have a lot of work to do to catch up with the five Democratic contenders who raised the most during the second quarter: Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., at $24.8 million; former Vice President Joe Biden at $21.5 million; and U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California at $19.1 million, $18 million and $11.8 million, respectively.
Those five also lead national polls and have the most in cash on hand, according to Federal Election Commission records.
