Small-dollar donors on track to donate $3 billion to Democrats by end of 2020 election cycle
According to ActBlue, the online Democratic fundraising platform, small-dollar donors have given $297 million in the third quarter. So far this year, more than $700 million has been donated to Democrats.
“Small-dollar donors are on track to give $1 billion using ActBlue in 2019 alone and $3 billion by the end of the 2020 cycle,” the platform said in a statement.
More than 10 million contributions were made using the site in the third quarter, more contributions than any other quarter in ActBlue history. The average donation size was just $28.
Small-dollar donations are an important metric for the Democratic party, which typically relies on grassroots fundraising as opposed to donations from the ultra-wealthy and super PACs. This election cycle, small-dollar donations are one qualifier to make the Democrat debates.
Donations have been ramping up as the election cycle continues — and the formal impeachment inquiry announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has only given a boost to the Democrats’ accounts. ActBlue says that Sept. 30, 2019 was “the biggest day ever” for the number of contributions made to the platform.
In the first week the impeachment inquiry was announced, ActBlue raked in roughly $45 million, according to its online counter. Since then it has added another $47 million, meaning that Democratic donors have given nearly $100 million since the impeachment inquiry began.
“Small-dollar donors have broken record after record in 2019, and these numbers show some incredible momentum among grassroots donors,” said Erin Hill, ActBlue’s Executive Director.
“We at ActBlue are preparing for a historic cycle,” she said. “So far, small-dollar donors are on track to give $3 billion to Democratic candidates and causes. That’s unheard of, and it really underscores how important the grassroots will be to taking back our state legislatures, the Senate, and the White House.”
While the 2018 midterm elections were the costliest elections ever, the 2020 general elections are on pace to top that, as both the president and Democrats raise record-breaking sums.
President Trump and the Republican National Committee (RNC) raised $125 million in the third quarter, blowing past Democrats’ fundraising totals. According to Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale, the president has $156 million in cash on hand with nearly $310 million raised so far this year.
In contrast to the success of ActBlue, Republican online fundraising platform WinRed didn’t fare as well in the third quarter. On Twitter, WinRed announced that its haul stood at $30 million for the quarter. Average donation size was $46 from nearly 640,000 donors.
Kristin Myers is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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