The Mayor from South Bend has proven his fundraising chops.

At 2:30AM on April 1st, Pete Buttigieg’s supporters received welcome news that their donations had paid off. The Times called it “ a significant sum ,” Politico said it was “ massive ,” and CNBC thought it might “ turn some heads .”

“This is just a preliminary analysis,” Buttigieg wrote on Twitter . “but our team’s initial report shows we raised over $7 million dollars in Q1 of this year. We (you) are out-performing expectations at every turn. I'll have a more complete analysis later, but until then: a big thank you to all our supporters.”

True to CNBC’s prediction, Buttigieg’s haul has caught the attention of the media. The NY Times and Axios both noted that, while Buttigieg had been seen by some as a long shot with low name recognition, this cash boon may change that.

“The haul is expected to place him, financially, in the upper half of a sprawling 2020 primary field that features a half-dozen senators,” the NY Times wrote.

The $7 million report from the Buttigieg team is the result of slightly over two months of fundraising, starting in mid-January and stretching to the end of March. Candidates are mandated to release their first quarter funds by April 15th, though they can do so independently if they choose. In this case, Buttigieg has made his success public early to win the spotlight before other candidates follow up with their reports.

The fundraising is strong, and is certainly unprecedented and unexpected for a candidate like Buttigieg, though whether it is enough is unclear.

As “Left Rising” consultant Connor Farrel told Politico, "It's really good for a small town mayor but I think Bernie and Beto are going to post 25 to 30 million dollars and the pace and the gulf there is going to widen. I think it probably takes him out of the B team and puts him at the bottom rung of the A team."

The NY Times agreed, saying that the donor windfall would place Buttigieg “financially, in the upper half of a sprawling 2020 primary field that features a half-dozen senators.”

O’Rourke and Sanders have each shown stellar early fundraising numbers, while Warren has been underperforming .

In an email on the evening of April 1st, Buttigieg shared that his total donor base was 158,550 people, and the average donation was just over $36. Almost two-thirds of the funds came from donations under $200. In a Facebook video , Buttigieg said the money was being spent to expand his campaign headquarters and to bring on more staff in target areas.

Buttigieg had little time to celebrate his success, though, as part of his April 1st morning was spent performing an emergency, pre-labor marriage .

-Ben Chapman

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