(Bloomberg) -- Pete Buttigieg continued his surge as a 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, raising $24.8 million in the second quarter and cementing his status as a top-tier candidate.“Thank you to the over 400,000 of you who have invested in this campaign, and who helped us raise over $24,800,000 this quarter alone. You inspire us every step of the way, and we’re just getting started,” the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, tweeted Monday.The fundraising haul more than tripled the amount he raised in the first-quarter in which he reported $7 million in campaign donations. At that time, Buttigieg trailed several candidates in the money race, including Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who raised $18.2 million; California Senator Kamala Harris with $12 million and former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, who raised $9.4 million.Former Vice President Joe Biden didn’t enter the race until the last week of April. His campaign said it brought in $6.3 million on the day he announced his candidacy, tops among Democratic contenders. President Donald Trump’s campaign raised $24.8 million in less than 24 hours when he officially launched his re-election campaign with a rally in Orlando, Florida on June 18, according to the Republican National Committee, though that amount included money raised for the party as well as his campaign.Candidates are due to officially report second-quarter totals to the Federal Election Commission on July 15. Some campaigns voluntarily announce the amount they raised ahead of the deadline, often to show the depth and breadth of their support.For Buttigieg, it’s the second time he’s been first out of the gate with his numbers. His campaign announced its totals for the opening months of the campaign on April 1.Buttigieg ended June with $22.6 million in the bank, his campaign said in an email. There were more than 294,000 donors who have contributed to his campaign in the second quarter, including 230,000 new donors in the second quarter. Overall, 400,000 individuals have contributed since Buttigieg launched his exploratory committee in February.The average donation size was $47.42, the email said. In the first quarter, Buttigieg raised $4.5 million from small-dollar donors, those who contributed $200 or less. He also received support from top Democratic fundraisers, including hedge-fund manager Orin Kramer, who raised more than $500,000 for Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008, and Steve Elmendorf, a lobbyist who represents the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Facebook Inc.In April, Buttigieg’s campaign announced it would no longer accept money from registered lobbyists or allow them to raise money for it. It also announced that it would not accept money from corporate political action committees. Most of the leading Democratic candidates, including Biden, Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have taken the same pledge.Buttigieg’s $24.8 million total is impressive for a candidate in a field of 24 who began the race with little name recognition, but not record-setting. Hillary Clinton raised $47.5 million for her campaign in the same period in 2015, though at the time she faced only three opponents. In a more crowded field, Obama raised $33.1 million in the second quarter of 2007, the most among contenders in that period.(Updates with additional detail starting in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Allison in Washington at ballison14@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kathleen HunterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
