Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas Congressman and unsuccessful challenger to Sen.Ted Cruz, said this week he had raised more than $6 million in the single day afterannouncing his presidential campaign — topping all of his Democratic opponents so far, including Sen.Bernie Sanders.
O’Rourke, 46, got $6,136,736 in online donations in the 24 hours since he launched his 2020 bid on Thursday, his campaign said, according toNBC News,The New York TimesandThe Washington Post.
TheTimesreports that until financial disclosure forms are made public next month, campaign finance announcements cannot be verified independently.
The O’Rourke campaign declined to say how many donors contributed to his $6-million haul or what the average amount was, according to theTimes.
Richard W. Rodriguez/AP/REX/Shutterstock
However, as theTimesnotes, the money he’s raised so far suggests O’Rourke retains the network of supporters he built during a long shot campaign against Cruz last year when national headlines were often framedintroducing him to the world.
A three-term representative from El Paso, where he was also a city councilor, O’Rourke captured significant Democratic attention and media coverage with his to-the-people senatorial bid (echoing the same success Sanders saw in 2016, building his profile against Hillary Clinton).
That has not abated: Just before his 2020 announcement last week,Vanity Fairrevealed himas their next cover star.
“This is a defining moment of truth for this country and for every single one of us,” he said in his announcement video, sitting next to wife Amy Hoover Sanders. “The challenges that we face right now, the interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate have never been greater.”
source: people.com
