Democratic presidential primary underdog Sen. Bernie Sanders is reportedly leading the race — in both parties — for the number of donations to his campaign, collecting more than 2 million by Thursday.
The Washington Post reports the Vermont lawmaker's campaign has emphasized raising money in small increments — the average donation is about $30 — and most of the contributions are coming over the Internet.
The number of people who've chipped in more than once is approaching 1 million, aides to Sanders tell the Post.
"President [Barack] Obama's historic campaign in 2008 only reached one million contributions on the day of the Iowa caucuses," campaign official Becky Bond wrote to campaign supporters in an email posted on
Reddit. "What we are doing together is simply unprecedented."
Sanders' campaign
blasted out email solicitations this week as his number of donations neared the 2 million mark. By Thursday morning, the individual contributions exceeded it.
The candidate's aides tell the Post they expect by the end of the year, he'll have more than the 2.2 million donations Obama did during the equivalent stretch in his 2012 reelection race.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign has still socked away more money overall than Sanders — $77.5 million to his $41.5 million — as of Sept. 30, the Post reports.
The donations' high mark came as Sanders were set to pick up the endorsement of the Communications Workers of America — his biggest labor backer to date, the Associated Press reports.
CWA, the largest communications and media union in the United States, represents about 700,000 telecommunications and technology workers, was expected to make the announcement Thursday. The endorsement was first reported by
NBC News.
Clinton has locked up nearly 20 labor endorsements, representing about 11 million members.
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