Elizabeth Warren Campaign Announces They’re $7 Million Short of Last Quarter’s Fundraising Haul

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Massachusetts Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign has announced that they are “a good chunk short” of their last fundraising quarter — a $7 million chunk.

On Friday, Warren’s campaign sent an email to supporters that included a specific fundraising total for the fourth quarter to date — a move that the campaign acknowledged was unusual, but intended to energize supporters:

In this email, we’re going to do something different — something a little risky.

Traditionally, campaigns wait until after the mandatory FEC reporting deadlines to announce how much they’ve raised. But this isn’t a traditional campaign. We’re a grassroots team, and you should know exactly where things stand right now — and exactly why it’s important that you give.

So far this quarter, we’ve raised a little over $17 million. That’s a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter.

The good news? We have until midnight on December 31 to get things going.

So XXX, Elizabeth Warren needs your help. Right now. The goal is $20 million for the quarter — that’s how much the campaign needs to keep our plans on track.

Please chip in $2 or whatever you can to help close the fundraising gap and continue building our ground game at the most critical point before the primaries and caucuses start.

Headlines about Senator Warren’s announcement focus on the fact that her campaign is currently 30 percent shy of the 24.6 million she raised in the third quarter, and some reports are also connecting the drop to Warren’s feud with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg over fundraising methods.

Warren has sworn off high-dollar fundraisers, while Buttigieg takes the position that those fundraisers are needed to defeat President Donald Trump — a position that Warren took as recently as this past February.

But a 30 percent drop would not necessarily be an indictment of Warren’s fundraising philosophy. At $17 million, Warren is already outperforming her polling in the 4th quarter, during which she has lost more that 40 percent of her support. After taking a brief October lead in the RCP national polling average at just over 26 percent, Warren is now just north of 15 percent.

The email could, however, provide insight into the ability of this sort last-minute appeal to energize supporters. With three days to go, an eye-popping total would validate the strategy. Still, when the other candidates release their 4th quarter totals, the picture could change even more.

On the other hand, as the campaign notes in their email, a poor result carries the risk of earning headlines that undermine Warren’s case. But however you feel about fundraising methods, the fact is that even if she doesn’t get a dime more in donations, Warren is still punching well above her polling weight class.