President Barack Obama meets with Champions of Change alumni including Andrew Yang in the Map Room of the White House, April 26, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Views from the Edge

Is it time to stop calling presidential candidate Andrew Yang a “long-shot” and change the modifier to “upstart?”

According to recent polling data, the nonpolitician has moved from obscurity to the national stage. Yang’s polling at 3% in the latest Emerson poll released Monday. He has earned enough donations to qualify for the first national debate of the Democratic nominees this June.



Entrepreneur and founder of a community nonprofit, Yang, 44, has catapulted in the polls. The “fairly normal guy,” as he describes himself, has surpassed better-known and more politically experienced senators and governors. Through his online campaign and the support of his Yang Gang, he managed to already surpass the minimum 65,000 donors needed to secure a spot on the Democratic National Committee’s primary debate stage, while other prominent Democrats are lagging.



His $2.4 million is way behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, who raised $18. million in the year’s first quarter and second-place fundraiser Sen. Kamala Harris, who raised $12 milllion.



“Thank you @jack for the support! I use at least one of your products every day,” Yang said in a tweet Tuesday, referring to the donation from Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey. “I think Nicolas Cage may have donated to my campaign. It is done,” Yang tweeted out. Yang’s list of supporters include the Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Weezer lead vocalist Rivers Cuomo, tech entrepreneur Sam Altman, and Netflix and Disney Channel star Noah Centineo, along with the before-mentioned Dorsey and Cage. According to most recent reports, Yang’s campaign was boosted by individual donations averaging about $17 per individual donations. He has spent a little over half and still has $1.2 million left.



That might not seem like a lot and it wouldn’t sustain a national campaign that would have to operate at least up to first primaries in Feb. 2020. However, it is better than some of the politicians who have thrown their hat in the ring with better name recognition, including Hawaii’s Tulsi Gabbard, who has raised $1.9 million, Julian Castro, $1.3 million and the two popular governors, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee with $2.3 millioin and Colorado’s former Gov. John Hickenlooper, $2 million.

Among the other two AAPI candidates, Sen. Kamala Harris has thus far made the strongest showing in terms of fundraising.



The $12 million raised by Harris is a strong start and regularly hitting third place in most national polls, trailing Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t even officially entered the race. Harris performed strongly with small donors, notching $4.4 million in contributions under $200.



Harris’ campaign previously stated that her average contribution was around $55. She also transferred in $1.2 million from her Senate committee. The campaign spent almost $4.3 million during the first quarter.



Another campaign still looking for a publicity breakthrough is that of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii). Her campaign raised $1.9 million in the first quarter. Almost $1.1 million of what she took in came from small donors. Gabbard also transferred in $2.5 million from her congressional committee.

Most of what Gabbard raised went back out again as her campaign spent $1.7 million.



The Democratic National Committee announced in February that to qualify for the first national debate, candidates must draw the support of 1 percent or more of those surveyed in at least three polls or receive donations from at least 65,000 individual donors and from a minimum of 200 individual donors per state in at least 20 states. Yang’s campaign manager, Zach Graumann, in a statement praised the “Yang Gang” — an affectionate nickname for the candidate’s loyal supporters.

“An outsider candidate raising nearly $2 million in two months in entirely small contributions is unheard of,” Graumann said. “Andrew Yang has proven he can build an online fundraising army from scratch — the Yang Gang effect is real.”



* * * Yang already has the vote for comedian Ronny Cheng. Laugh, but Yang scores some serious points. Enjoy!



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