Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign raised “only” $25.8 million in April, which is just a little more than half of their March income of $44 million, Politico reported Sunday. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a statement: “What our campaign is doing is bringing millions of Americans into the political process.” But a lot fewer right now, apparently.
Weaver noted that despite the downturn in income, the Sanders campaign still maintained an “average monthly total of $17 million.” But the elephant in the room remained the huge drop which followed Sanders’ defeat to Clinton in New York on April 19, when he took only Rhode Island out of five eastern seaboard states in play. The weak fundraising figures came on the heel of the Sanders campaign’s 250+ staff positions cuts.
So far, the Sanders campaign has raised $210 million from 2.4 million donors. But, according to the campaign, the average contribution in April was less than $26, and only 3% came from contributors who gave the maximum allowed of $2,700.
The decline in donations can be explained by the loss of the Sanders momentum, which crashed after the senator had won eight out of nine smaller state votes, most of which were caucus states. The other reason may be the fact that the Clinton campaign is getting very close to reaching its goal. Out of the 2,383 delegates needed for the Democratic party’s nomination, Hillary Clinton has secured 2,165, compared with Sanders’ 1,357 and 128 uncommitted.
With 1,243 delegates remaining in play, Hillary appears to be the clear winner. The Sanders campaign was looking to force a second vote at the convention, by making the case against Clinton’s acquiring hundreds of “super delegates,” party top officials in each state who are sent to the convention without the need to be elected. Hillary has received commitments from 520 super delegates, compared with 39 who went with Sanders. But given that the Super Delegate system was put in place specifically to prevent mavericks like Sen. Sanders, who isn’t even a Democrat, from taking over the party, the chances for such a move are slim.
Meanwhile, the Republican party establishment folks are probably kicking themselves for not having their own super delegates, who may have been able to block juggernaut Trump. With 1,237 delegates needed for the Republican nomination, Trump has secured 996, with 571 delegates still in play before the convention. It means that Trump will likely not collect the full number of delegates he needs for the nomination and that this summer Cleveland will be jumping.