Bernie Sanders' 2020 campaign is off to an impressive start: The Vermont senator crushed other Democratic candidates in his first day of online fundraising, and boasted social media stats that easily outstripped his competition, too.

Sanders brought in more than $5.9 million from more than 220,000 donors in the 24 hours since he announced his presidential candidacy, according to his campaign. He easily eclipsed other announced 2020 candidates’ first-day fundraising figures — as well as his own in 2015, when he raked in more than $1.5 million online in the first 24 hours.


Sanders broke small-dollar fundraising records in that campaign, and his staff has worked to amass an online media empire, posting more than 1,000 videos on his Facebook and Twitter pages over the past two years.

Another show of his digital strength: The Vermont senator’s announcement video racked up nearly 5.4 million views on Twitter in the first day, more than any other 2020 contender’s formal announcement or exploratory committee video, most of which have been online for weeks.

COUNTDOWN TO 2020 The race for 2020 starts now. Stay in the know. Follow our presidential election coverage. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. {{#success}} {{heading}} {{message}} {{heading}} {{message}} More Subscriptions {{message}}

The rest of the field is playing catch up with Sanders, currently the only candidate in the Democratic primary who begins on the foundation of a full-blown presidential campaign. But the numbers suggest that many of his most passionate followers are on board with his repeat bid for the White House, at least at this early stage of the campaign.

The first email the Sanders 2020 presidential campaign sent to his supporters asking for financial contributions came around 5 p.m., ten hours after he announced his candidacy. Two emails before that sought signatures on a petition backing his bid.


According to the campaign, Sanders' supporters gave $600,000 in contributions that will recur monthly.

Two key alumni who helped build Sanders' small-dollar fundraising operation during his first run have joined the 2020 team, as expected: Tim Tagaris, owner of Aisle 518 Strategies and Sanders' 2016 digital fundraising director, and Robin Curran, his 2016 digital production director.

Two other staffers who worked as Sanders' media producer and digital director in his Senate office have come onto the campaign: Armand Aviram and Georgia Parke.

Sen. Kamala Harris’ campaign said it raised $1.5 million in the first 24 hours of her Jan. 21 launch, and her announcement video has received almost 4.3 million views on Twitter. Sen. Cory Booker, who kicked off his bid on Feb. 1, has seen his announcement video garner nearly 4 million views on the site.


On the day she revealed her exploratory committee on Dec. 31, Sen. Elizabeth Warren raised more then $299,000 online. Her exploratory announcement video has gotten more than 3.8 million views. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who launched her campaign on Feb. 10, raised more than $1 million in her first 48 hours, according to her team, and her announcement video received 150,000 views.

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, posted an exploratory announcement video on Twitter that garnered more than 1 million views.