Joe Biden did more than win a haul of delegates in South Carolina on Saturday, he may have breathed financial life into a campaign that was struggling under the weight of three poor performances.
After Biden failed to win any of the first three contests in the 2020 Democratic primary, he surged back with a decisive win in South Carolina on Saturday that brought him to within striking distance of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in pledged delegates. As CNBC reported, the win also caught the attention of some of the party’s key donors.
The report noted that some wealthy donors have been lured away from the campaigns of candidates who have fallen off, including Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. They have also attracted some donors who had remained uncommitted. These wealthy donors are now committing the maximum amount of $2,800 to Biden’s campaign, which the report noted is now helping cover the fundraising difficulties he was going through after the poor start to the Democratic primary.
“Money has been pouring in. And now it will really pour. Voters now understand that a vote for anyone other than Biden is a vote for Bernie Sanders,” businessman John Morgan, a Biden supporter and campaign contribution bundler, told CNBC. “I have been inundated with emails today.”
It is not yet clear how much impact the donations could have on the upcoming Super Tuesday contests. Biden had been investing the majority of resources into South Carolina and had not yet campaigned in the states that will be voting on Tuesday.
As The Inquisitr reported, Biden’s competitors had outspent him on these races, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg investing $161 million in Super Tuesday states, and Sanders spending $15 million. Biden has only spent close to $450,000 before Saturday’s win in South Carolina.
Biden also saw a surge of smaller donations after his win. Elana Firsht, his campaign’s director of online fundraising, said in a tweet that they had the best period ever after the South Carolina primary.
“48 mins in and this is the best hour of fundraising the campaign has EVER had,” Firsht tweeted .
Biden’s campaign later announced that they had raised a total of $5 million in a day, also setting a record for the campaign.
COMING UP on #MTP : @JoeBiden tells me he’s raised $5M in the past 24 hours. That’s the biggest ever 24-hour online haul for his campaign. #IfItsSunday tune in!
— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) March 1, 2020
Biden had been trailing Sanders in polling for some key Super Tuesday states, especially delegate-rich California. The two were also neck and neck in Texas.
