Warren Campaign Press Release - An Update on Our First FEC Deadline

By Roger Lau, Campaign Manager

I'm really grateful that you stepped up and chipped in before our first FEC deadline to help grow our grassroots movement. It means a lot to me, and it means a lot to Elizabeth.

So I wanted to give you an update on our fundraising numbers for the first quarter of this campaign. (Spoiler alert: We're in good shape, and we're excited to be able to keep up the fight!)

• Our movement is made up of more than 135,000 grassroots donors who've made more than 213,000 grassroots donations
• We raised more than $6 million with a $28 overall average donation
• This includes more than $1.4 million raised during the final week of the quarter, crushing our goal of 35,000 new donations and landing at over 50,000 new donations
• Adding this to what we already had in the bank, we're entering the second quarter with $11 million cash on hand

You should be proud of the truly grassroots-powered movement that we're building together.

Grassroots donations are the only reason Elizabeth can keep setting the tone for this race with substance and determination for big structural change. With your support, from organizing events across the country to the debate stage starting in June, she'll keep laying out plans to tackle the root causes of why it's gotten harder and harder for working people to get ahead.

But now that we hit our goal for the first quarter, we've got to keep up the pace in the second quarter — including this month.

I have to ask because it's the only way we'll meet our quarterly, monthly, and daily fundraising goals: Will you chip in to keep powering our grassroots movement? Hitting our goals isn't inevitable. It only happens because people like you read emails like this one and decide to chip in.

I won't sugarcoat it: We were out-raised by some other candidates in the presidential primary this first quarter.

You might have seen some of the big numbers in the headlines, from $7 million to $18 million. Here's a tip: Take a look at the number of grassroots donors — and donations — that candidates report. For instance:

• One of the other candidates who had more or less the same number of donations raised 55% more money because of big-dollar contributions
• Another candidate had just about the same number of people donate overall, but also raised twice as much money from big-dollar donors

Elizabeth decided not to do any closed-door events with wealthy donors, or call time where candidates typically call wealthy people and personally ask them to donate.

Ninety-nine percent of our donations were $200 or less. That isn't a coincidence: that was by design.

Because Elizabeth's been able to count on grassroots donations, she's been able to spend her time visiting as many states as possible, meeting voters, and calling grassroots donors to personally thank them for giving.

Here's some of what that looks like: Elizabeth's held 48 events in 12 states plus Puerto Rico, taking over 200 questions from voters about what's on their minds. More than 22,000 people have attended events, with Elizabeth taking about 13,000 selfies with people who stayed behind to chat more after they were over.

She's also made herself open to the press, holding 38 media availabilities with reporters and sitting for over 90 interviews since December 31st to talk about why she's in this fight.

We don't have to match other candidates dollar for dollar, but we do need a strong enough grassroots base to be able to keep Elizabeth's voice front and center in this race. We do need to keep fighting to prove that we can build a presidential primary campaign without catering to the rich and powerful.

Because we'll keep this core principle: Every supporter has equal access and owns an equal piece of this campaign, no matter how much you donate. And every contribution makes a difference.

Elizabeth put it best: “In life, there are some people who have more money. There are some people who have less money. But everybody should have an equal share of our democracy.”

We can't build this movement without you, and we wouldn't want to. Contribute $3 or whatever you can, and know that you'll always be an equal part of this campaign.

Thanks for everything, and I hope I'll see you on the road. -Roger