Beto O'Rourke announces massive $6.1 million fundraising haul in first day of campaign, dwarfing the rest of the 2020 field

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Beto O'Rourke.

• Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke raised over $6.1 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign, he announced Monday.
• The fundraising surpasses all of the other Democratic candidates' first day hauls.
• By raising massive amounts of money, O'Rourke is continuing the trend he exhibited during his failed 2018 Senate run in Texas.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke announced a $6,136,763 fundraising haul in the first 24 hours of his campaign, topping the rest of the 2020 field.

"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.

Read more: Why Beto O'Rourke could lose in his quest to win the 2020 Democratic nomination

O'Rourke, who like many candidates has vowed not to take contributions from corporate PACs, set a record for the rest of the Democratic field.

To compare, rival candidates like California Sen. Kamala Harris raised $1.5 million, while other candidates such as Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar took several days to raise just over $1 million. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders brought in $5.9 million in his first 24 hours.

O'Rourke can tap a massive fundraising list that boosted his numbers during his failed Senate run against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets database, O'Rourke raised just under $79 million during the 2018 Senate campaign - the second-highest for any Senate candidate behind Florida's Rick Scott.

Donations are key for campaigns being able to stay above water, especially in a crowded field of candidates. In addition, meeting a threshold of at least 65,000 individual donors is a requirement to get on the debate stage, according to new rules set forth by the Democratic National Committee.

Already, some campaigns are struggling to find enough donors, resorting to new tactics. For example, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney is pledging to donate two dollars to charity for each new contribution, tapping into his large personal wealth from his career in the private sector.

From the start, O'Rourke does not appear to be having any fundraising problems, signaling a strong rollout to his presidential bid.