Elizabeth Warren's campaign is 30% behind in quarterly fundraising 4 days before deadline
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign is in a fundraising crunch just days ahead of the end of the fourth-quarter filing deadline.
- She issued a call for donations four days away from the Federal Election Commission's reporting deadline.
- The email set a $20 million funding goal and said Warren would need a major boost from the current figure of "a little over $17 million."
- So far, that's a 30% dip from last quarter, when she netted $24.6 million.
- Warren has raised eyebrows in recent weeks for taking aim at her opponents' ties to high-dollar donors, which has also sparked criticism because of her previous ties to high-profile supporters.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren's presidential campaign is in a fundraising crunch just days ahead of the end of the fourth-quarter filing deadline.
In an email sent to supporters on December 27, the campaign said it had raised "a little over $17 million" since the beginning of October, placing it "a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter," or a 30% dip from $24.6 million.
The email, which had a subject line "re: Fundraising Gap," said the campaign was reaching for a goal of $20 million, and was making the unusual move of reaching out before the Federal Election Commission's reporting deadline to shake up support for the "grassroots" funding effort ahead of the deadline, which is set for midnight on Tuesday.
"By setting this goal and revealing to our opponents where we are, we give up some strategic advantage," the email read, adding that missing the goal could threaten plans for a 50-state organizing strategy.
The campaign also stressed its priority with leaning on grassroots donors in another effort to distance the senator's funding from the big donors she had criticized her opponents for embracing.
"Asking supporters like you to chip in is the only way we're going to try to catch up on fundraising," the email read. "There are no wealthy donors in high-rise penthouses or outside super PACs coming to the rescue."
The Washington Post reported that Warren was just one of several Democratic candidates who issued a last-minute push for donations, including Christmas Eve emails from businessman Andrew Yang and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Warren memorably vowed that she would reject high-dollar donations from big donors, but the image push for a more grassroots approach has earned her scrutiny for her previously established ties to high-profile donors.
After making headlines for taking aim at fellow 2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg's participation in a "wine cave" fundraiser with billionaire supporters, which earned a reference in the funding gap email, critics called out Warren's past attendance at events with VIP donors and supporters.
The uphill funding struggle matches Warren's apparent slowing momentum according to opinion polls among voters taken in recent weeks.