Beto O’Rourke’s campaign touted its “grassroots” fundraising base, noting that the former congressman pulled in donations from all 50 states and every U.S. territory within the first 24 hours. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 2020 Elections O'Rourke reports massive $6.1M fundraising haul in first 24 hours of campaign

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised $6.1 million in the first 24 hours after launching his presidential campaign, crushing the first day hauls of many of his Democratic competitors and surpassing even the massive 24-hour total brought in by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“In just 24 hours, Americans across this country came together to prove that it is possible to run a true grassroots campaign for president — a campaign by all of us for all of us that answers not to the PACs, corporations, and special interests but to the people,” O’Rourke said in a statement released by his campaign.


O’Rourke, who officially jumped into the Democratic primary last week after months of speculation and immediately nabbed endorsements and wall-to-wall media coverage, initially refused to release his first-day fundraising numbers — a standard marker of early support in presidential races — like many of his competitors.

"I can't right now," he told reporters who asked about his initial fundraising totals, before clarifying himself. "Let me answer better: I choose not to."

On Monday, O’Rourke’s campaign touted its “grassroots” fundraising base, noting that the former congressman pulled in donations from all 50 states and every U.S. territory within the first 24 hours.

Before last week, it was Sanders (I-Vt.) who had set the bar for first-day 2020 fundraising, pulling in $6 million in 24 hours after announcing his run for the presidency. California Sen. Kamala Harris’ launch had been the second-most lucrative so far, raising over $1.5 million in her first day in the race.

Several of O’Rourke’s fellow Democrats, like Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, broke the $1 million threshold after about 48 hours, their campaigns said.

The former congressman tapped into his fundraising prowess during his failed Senate run when he raised a record-breaking sum of more than $80 million in his close loss to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Of that amount, more than three-quarters of that money came from online donors, according to a POLITICO analysis of Federal Election Commission filings from ActBlue, the online fundraising platform used by O’Rourke and other Democrats.

Although his campaign against Cruz built O’Rourke a nationwide small-donor base, the former El Paso congressman's support was concentrated in Texas, which has not traditionally been a major source of Democratic fundraising. The state has been largely untapped by O’Rourke’s 2020 rivals — a potential boon for his presidential campaign, if those home-state supporters stick with him.

O’Rourke took in over $30 million in online contributions just from Texas in 2017 and 2018, with an average donation of $41. His next-best states were Democratic online donor bastions: California, New York, Massachusetts, Washington and Illinois.

David Siders and Scott Bland contributed to this report.