Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg,
the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised nearly $25
million in the second quarter toward his campaign.
Buttigieg's campaign announced on
Monday that the candidate has raised $24.8 million from 294,000
individual donors. The average contribution was $48.
On Thursday, Buttigieg made history as
the first openly gay candidate to participate in a presidential
debate. The following day, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to
elect openly LGBT lawmakers and officials, endorsed Buttigieg's
campaign.
(Related: Victory
Fund endorses Pete Buttigieg for president; Stonewall made candidacy
possible, he says.)
“Mayor Pete is competing in the polls
and in fundraising with the best-known names in American politics –
placing him among the strongest contenders for the Democratic
nomination,” Victory Fund spokesperson Elliot Imse said. “LGBTQ
donors helped fuel the early months of his candidacy, but his appeal
now extends far beyond our community, as these latest fundraising
numbers show. As more Americans hear his message on the campaign
trail and from the debate stage, we believe this momentum will
accelerate.”
In reporting the news, CNN said that
Buttigieg's second-quarter fundraising total was a sign “he's here
to stay.”
“He now is done meeting debate
metrics pretty much at this point. He will now be guaranteed a place
in the debate stage from this point forward, is my guess,” said
Sarah Isgur, CNN political analyst, adding that the result is
stunning considering the fact that Buttigieg is the mayor of a small
town, not a senator or governor with a large donor list developed
over years.
The campaign already had more than $22
million in the bank.