Sen. Elizabeth Warren holds a rally in Los Angeles. | Mario Tama/Getty Images 2020 elections We analyzed the schedules of every top 2020 Democrat. Here are the big takeaways. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have had to make sacrifices others did not to accommodate their reliance on big-dollar fundraising.

Pete Buttigieg is holding the most fundraisers. Elizabeth Warren is headlining scores of town hall-style meetings — and snapping a record number of selfies. And when Joe Biden isn’t raising money, he’s camping out in the early voting states to keep pace with the others.

In the months since the former vice president and front-runner launched his presidential campaign, he and Kamala Harris have had to make sacrifices others did not to accommodate their heavier reliance on big-dollar fundraising. Warren and Bernie Sanders, for comparison, are spending fewer days on the road but getting more public face time with voters than Biden and Harris are. POLITICO tallied all the public events and fleshed out the remainder of their calendars, including the private fundraisers — information being reported here for the first time.


The figures help sketch out a fuller picture of a primary campaign that most Americans only see flash before them on cable TV. Each candidate is approaching his or her days a bit differently: Warren focuses the majority of her events on medium- to large-scale town halls, which are increasing in size. The Massachusetts senator stays for hours afterward to chat with attendees, answer a few brief questions and take pictures.

None of the candidates is as active as Beto O’Rourke in small retail settings, though Amy Klobuchar and Buttigieg come closest. Harris’ recent Iowa bus tour helped her rack up nearly 20 stops in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. No one has done more than Harris in Nevada, which borders — and votes shortly before — her home state of California.

Sanders fills his days on the road with back-to-back activities, but he’s kept a close eye on California, returning frequently to the Super Tuesday state that his campaign is treating like an early voting state. Two of Sanders’ three “grassroots” fundraisers were in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Klobuchar held 60 events in Iowa alone; perhaps more than any other candidate, she’s counting on the state to propel her presidential bid. Like Warren, Harris and Sanders, Klobuchar also has to balance her time on the road with votes in the Senate.



Below is a detailed look at how the leading contenders spent their time, from April 25 through Aug. 19.

Former Vice President Joe Biden

116 total campaign days

59 days on the road — 51 percent of days



Events: 112

Non-fundraisers: 70

Fundraisers: 42

Early voting state days: 28

Early voting state events: 54

Analysis: Biden’s strategy is simple: Raise money while pounding the early voting states. He’s skipped or is skipping some big Democratic Party meetings — the California State Party Convention and recent Democratic National Committee confab in San Francisco come to mind — but his frequent travels to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina put him on par there with Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren — candidates doing more public events than him elsewhere. Biden also has the advantage of a well-known surrogate that the others don’t: His wife, Jill Biden, who has been stepping up her own activity around the country.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg



116 total campaign days

82 days on the road — 71 percent of days

Events: 240

Non-fundraisers: 140

Fundraisers: 100

Early voting state days: 32

Early voting state events: 76

Analysis: Like Beto O’Rourke's, though nowhere near as prolific, Pete Buttigieg’s campaign is working to project the image of a candidate who is everywhere — think: Kansas City, Mo., and Fresno, Calif. The field’s top fundraiser in the second quarter of the year, taking in nearly $25 million, Buttigieg is holding the most fundraisers by far — 30 more than Kamala Harris and 58 more than Joe Biden. In the early voting states, Buttigieg is focusing much of his time in Iowa and New Hampshire, where anything less than strong showings would likely end his campaign.

Sen. Kamala Harris

116 total campaign days

90 days on the road — 78 percent of days

Events: 165

Non-fundraisers: 95

Fundraisers: 70

Early voting state days: 27

Early voting state events: 60

Analysis: Kamala Harris’ big-dollar fundraisers from California to New York reflect the reality that she can’t live on online donations alone. Her speeches to Democratic and NAACP audiences in Detroit, Montgomery, Ala., and West Columbia, S.C., undergird her efforts to build a base with black voters Her events total in South Carolina is second only to Beto O’Rourke's. Lately, she’s been ramping up in Iowa — with half of her events coming on a recent five-day bus tour — an acknowledgment that waiting for South Carolina and Super Tuesday would be too late.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar

116 total campaign days

77 days on the road — 66 percent of days

Events: 245

Non-fundraisers: 190

Fundraisers: 55

Early voting state days: 49

Early voting state events: 97

Analysis: For Amy Klobuchar, it’s all about Iowa. She’s made 59 stops there in the time period examined — 80 since launching in mid-February. While some others sprinted across the state fair this month — rushing though a pork chop flip and kernel toss after stepping off the soap box — Klobuchar spent nearly eight hours on the ground there. Klobuchar’s 49 days in the early voting states are the most — as is the percentage of her time in the early voting states compared with her total days on the road. Also of note: her 25 events in New Hampshire.

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke

116 total campaign days

83 days on the road — 72 percent of days

Events: 360

Non-fundraisers: 352

Fundraisers: 8



Early voting state days: 36

Early voting state events: 98

Analysis: Nobody has packed in near the number of stops as Beto O’Rouke, including in the early voting states. Not tethered to a day job, O’Rouke has been everywhere. He’s done 200 more events than the next-most-active candidate, Pete Buttigieg. Notably, O’Rourke didn’t have the in-person fundraising burdens of several others. He held just eight.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

116 total campaign days

54 days on the road — 47 percent of days

Events: 112

Non-fundraisers: 109

Fundraisers: 3



Early voting state days: 29

Early voting state events: 83

Analysis: Bernie Sanders is showing a kind of dual focus, with one eye on later dates. While storming early voting states — packing a ton of events into fewer days than anyone else — he’s keeping close tabs on California, which votes March 3 — and earlier by mail. Sanders, who stumped across the corners of the state in 2016, is applying that blueprint to 2020: His town halls and rallies from Pasadena to San Jose to Santa Monica are the most of any candidate, including Californian Kamala Harris. Meantime, two of his three “grassroots” fundraisers — events open to the media — were in California.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren

116 total campaign days

58 days on the road — 50 percent of days

Events: 103

Non-fundraisers: 103

Fundraisers: 0



Early voting state days: 32

Early voting state events: 58

Analysis: Rival campaigns scoffed when Elizabeth Warren swore off traditional high-dollar fundraisers. Yet the jeering stopped after she raised $19 million in the second quarter of the year. With freedom to roam, Warren is stretching the map: She hit 20 states between April 25 and Aug. 19, from Trump Country in West Virginia to Minnesota, a state Donald Trump is trying to flip in 2020 — 12,000 people turned out to see Warren there. Warren’s public event tally doesn’t account for every public stop, so it likely undercounts her stops compared with some others'. In a summer where nobody has landed a glove on her, Warren has gotten her town hall meetings down to a science: She took more than 300 audience questions and 25,000 selfies, according to her campaign.

