The math suggests Biden collected about $19.8 million. Multiple people in Biden’s campaign declined to confirm on Tuesday how much he has raised since entering the race in April.
But the figure is sure to draw notice from rival campaigns, who are preparing for next week’s debates while furiously trying to raise money before the pivotal second quarter draws to a close. Those numbers, which will be made public July 15, will be an indicator of which candidates in the crowded 2020 primary will have the resources to last. They will also reveal who is on track to reach the fundraising thresholds set by the Democratic National Committee to qualify for the next round of debates.
“With your help, you’re going to allow me to be able to compete in a way that I’ve never been able to do before,” Biden told donors gathered at the home of billionaire Wall Street financier James Chanos. “We’ve raised a great deal of money.”
Biden’s fundraising tease follows news that rival Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised $7 million in the month of April alone.
Biden and Buttigieg have often found themselves courting the same donors and have sometimes been on fundraising swings in the same states at the same time. While many Democrats in the 2020 primary field have sought to distance themselves from big-money events, the two have embraced them, giving the glimmer of a campaign cash arms race.
Biden has been in New York for a series of fundraisers this week, including the Monday event that was hosted by Chanos.
After the Democratic debates in Miami next week, Biden is slated to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area for a series of fundraisers hosted by donors with ties to Silicon Valley. That includes an event that will be held at the Los Altos home of former Twitter executive Katie Jacobs Stanton, as well as one in San Francisco hosted by tech industry veteran Doug Hickey, according to a person with direct knowledge of the events. The person requested anonymity to discuss private planning details.
Buttigieg was also supposed to be in New York before heading to California for a star-studded fundraising swing that included an event hosted by TV producer and Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy.
MORE: Here, here, here, and adding some nostalgia, here.
Do you get the feeling the thing is all about money, or that these outlets want to make it appear so? The one Market Watch item showing how one can fund and front "favorite son - favorite daughter" stalking horses in state after state with large electoral vote pools [large party convention clout] as a ploy against populism's two leading choices, Bernie and Warren.
Curious conscious press parallelism at play, for whose benefit, on whose dime?
There seems to be Bernie, Warren, and four more years of Trump at issue; (the press and donor class being happy enough about the four more years; and showing it is so and how the game is to front the likes of Joe Biden to get those four more Trump years). Will the Democratic Party show a conscience, or will it again show that it's only about being GOP lite against GOP real, and keeping reform at bay through prank candidacies bolstered by prank reporting.