Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders blow past Joe Biden in fundraising race

Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders greatly eclipsed former Vice President Joe Biden in fundraising over the past three months, placing progressive Democrats on strong footing in the crucial final stretch before primary voting begins.
Warren’s campaign reported to donors Friday morning that the Massachusetts senator raised $24.6 million from more than half a million donors in the fundraising quarter that ended Monday. The amount is just shy of the haul by her Senate colleague and fellow progressive Sanders, of Vermont, who earlier in the week reported raising $25.3 million.

“Our grassroots movement is in an incredible position,” Warren campaign manager Roger Lau said in an e-mail to supporters. He invited them to “close your eyes and picture Wall Street bankers scowling into their catered breakfast” upon hearing of Warren’s haul. Some 300,000 donors to Warren in the last quarter were giving to her for the first time.

The fundraising report answered an important question for Warren’s campaign — whether she would be able to match her rise in polls with the resources needed to sustain her campaign in key primary states.