Candidates with the most individual donors
Darker shades on the map indicate a greater share of estimated donors.
1. Sanders
1,395,000
1. Sanders
1,395,000
2. Warren
892,000
2. Warren
892,000
3. Buttigieg
741,000
3. Buttigieg
741,000
4. Biden
451,000
4. Biden
451,000
5. Yang
397,000
5. Yang
397,000
6. Klobuchar
227,000
6. Klobuchar
227,000
Note: Data is through Dec. 31.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont received donations from an estimated 1.4 million people through the end of 2019 — far more than any other candidate in the Democratic primary race, according to fund-raising records filed with the Federal Election Commission. The map above shows his expansive donor base around the country, including in Iowa, whose caucuses will be held on Monday.
Mr. Sanders is powering his campaign with small donations from supporters across the United States, and he collected roughly $95 million from donors in 2019 without holding a single high-dollar fund-raising event.
Our analysis of fund-raising records six months ago also showed his overwhelming strength in attracting donors around the country.
The map below — which includes the rest of the Democratic field without Mr. Sanders — provides a picture of where the other leading candidates are attracting donors.
Candidates with the most individual donors when Sanders is excluded
Where Bernie Sanders is leading, the runner-up is shown. Darker shades on the map indicate a greater share of estimated donors.
1. Sanders
1,395,000
1. Sanders
1,395,000
2. Warren
892,000
2. Warren
892,000
3. Buttigieg
741,000
3. Buttigieg
741,000
4. Biden
451,000
4. Biden
451,000
5. Yang
397,000
5. Yang
397,000
6. Klobuchar
227,000
6. Klobuchar
227,000
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who like Mr. Sanders is relying on grass-roots support, has the second largest number of donors in most states. While she, too, has found success with that strategy, she has not matched Mr. Sanders’s success.
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., has the second largest number of donors in Iowa as well as in New Hampshire, which will hold the nation’s first primary on Feb. 11.
Sanders Leads in Early States
Looking at these numbers by state, Mr. Sanders is leading in all of the early states as well as all of the Super Tuesday states, except for Ms. Warren’s home state, Massachusetts, and Senator Amy Klobuchar’s home state, Minnesota.
How each candidate ranks in number of individual donors, by state
Sanders’s Donor Base Has Multiplied Over Time
This chart shows the estimated number of unique individuals who had given to each candidate over the course of 2019. Mr. Sanders’s huge base of donors is evident from the moment he joined the race last February.
Methodology
Data includes individual donations reported by campaigns to the Federal Election Commission as well as those made through ActBlue, an online fund-raising platform that processes donations for Democratic candidates. These sources combined account for roughly 91 percent of dollars donated to candidates by individuals. Information about donors giving $200 or less directly to a campaign is not available.
The number of individual donors was estimated based on the name and ZIP code of the donor. The New York Times approximated donors’ locations from their ZIP codes, then took a weighted average of the nearest donors for each location. Shapes are combined census tracts, each containing at least one donor.
Estimates of donor counts are based on data through Dec. 31.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
