Pete Buttigieg’s Campaign Says It Raised $24.7 Million in the Fourth Quarter

WASHINGTON — Pete Buttigieg raised more than $24.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, his presidential campaign said on Wednesday, another strong showing that leaves him well positioned to fund a large campaign operation as primary voting approaches.

In a display of the breadth of his support, Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign said it had now received more than two million donations from over 733,000 individuals since he entered the race.

Mr. Buttigieg has proved himself in the past year to be an unexpected fund-raising powerhouse, raising more than $76 million over the course of 2019 despite entering the race with little name recognition across the country. His successor as mayor of South Bend, Ind., was to be sworn in on Wednesday.

While his financial strength has been apparent for many months, Mr. Buttigieg has seen his standing in the race improve more recently, with polls in Iowa showing him in a formidable position as the Feb. 3 caucuses approach. But he still faces significant questions about his ability to broaden his base of support beyond white voters.

The fourth quarter, which began Oct. 1 and concluded on Tuesday, is the last fund-raising period for which candidates will have to disclose their numbers before the caucuses, and Mr. Buttigieg was the first of the leading candidates to announce how much he had raised. Presidential candidates are required to report their fund-raising and spending for the quarter to the Federal Election Commission by Jan. 31.

Mr. Buttigieg’s total of more than $24.7 million raised in the quarter was an improvement from the third quarter, when he brought in more than $19 million. He raised nearly $25 million in the second quarter and more than $7 million in the first quarter.

Mr. Buttigieg’s fund-raising is particularly impressive because he did not begin his campaign with a big network of online donors, and he had not been a national figure before running for president. In the second and third quarters, Mr. Buttigieg raised more than Joseph R. Biden Jr. — who entered the race as a household name after serving eight years as vice president and 36 years as a senator.

But Mr. Buttigieg has also come under criticism for his courtship of wealthy donors. Like Mr. Biden, he is scooping up large contributions on the traditional fund-raising circuit — a contrast with two of their top rivals, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who are not holding high-dollar fund-raisers and instead are relying on grass-roots donors.

At the December primary debate, Mr. Buttigieg took fire for his practice of holding fund-raising events with deep-pocketed donors, including one held in a wine cave in California’s Napa Valley. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Ms. Warren said.

Mr. Buttigieg defended himself by criticizing what he described as “purity tests,” and he said that Democrats should not try to defeat President Trump “with one hand tied behind our back.”

Mr. Buttigieg recently opened his high-dollar fund-raising events to the news media. He also released a list of so-called bundlers who have raised at least $25,000 for his campaign. Mr. Biden has provided the news media with access to his fund-raisers since he entered the race, and he recently released a list of bundlers as well.

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