Leftwing challenger to Hillary Clinton in presidential race has captured attention of grassroots party members with core message of income equality

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Bernie Sanders has raised $15m for his presidential bid since joining the race as a longshot challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, his campaign has announced.

Bernie Sanders sees poll surge after series of record-breaking appearances Read more

About 250,000 donors have given money, giving the senator a solid foundation from which to build an insurgent campaign against Clinton and establishment Democrats.



Sanders has drawn large crowds, including about 10,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night, and the money raised will bolster his attempt to become a liberal alternative to Clinton. Clinton’s campaign has amassed $45m since mid-April.

Sanders is courting the most liberal grassroots voters by running largely on a platform of reducing income inequality. His stock has risen in early states like New Hampshire and Iowa but he still trails Clinton in early polling.

The 73-year-old democratic socialist has tried to appeal to Democrats with a message of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and increasing taxes on the wealthy and Wall Street.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters wait to sign up for a town hall meeting with Bernie Sanders in Rochester, Minnesota. Photograph: Jim Mone/AP

His campaign operation is smaller than Clinton’s and his first fundraising report should be comparable to some of the larger presidential campaigns in recent years. Republican Mitt Romney, for example, raised $18.4m in his first three months of the 2012 campaign.

The Sanders campaign said it had received nearly 400,000 contributions and an average donation of $33.51, and most online donations were made through the campaign’s own website.