Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) raked in an impressive more than $7 million in the last Federal Election Commission (FEC) fundraising quarter which includes receipts through the joint fundraising committee, his campaign told Breitbart News exclusively.
What’s perhaps more impressive than the dollar amount, however, is just how successful Paul has been with grassroots supporters: the total number of donations is comprised of 108,205 individual donors with an average of $65.
What’s more, a whopping 85 percent of all donations were for either $50 or less, and 96 percent of all donations were for $100 or less. Those numbers prove that Paul has raw grassroots support nationwide, and hardworking people who aren’t part of the permanent political class—the folks who can’t max out in thousands of dollars of donations to various political candidates—are doing whatever they can to help him out.
The numbers Paul’s campaign released to Breitbart News exclusively also show he is outpacing the contributions of almost every 2012 Republican campaign and has the resources to build a national campaign capable of competing through the convention. The last quarter’s $7 million of receipts come from the time frame of between April and June of this year. Paul announced he’s running for president in April.
At this point in the 2012 Republican primary, Paul’s father former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) raised only $4.5 million, and only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised more. Paul is on pace to raise almost double what his father and almost every other candidate garnered during the 2012 primary.
Additionally, Paul’s campaign’s announcement of high levels of small dollar donors means he has strong support from real primary voters, not political insiders. His donors are activists who will continue to donate and, as engaged activists, they will drive others to give to and vote for Rand Paul.
Polls continue to show Paul is the best-suited GOP candidate at this time when it comes to facing off against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general election. He leads the field against Hillary Clinton nationally, according to Real Clear Politics’ average of polls. Also, he is the only candidate who polls ahead of Clinton in polls from key states Republicans need to win the White House, including Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
Paul is running a grassroots campaign, unlike other candidates who must raise higher amount of funds to overcome monumental negatives. While donor class candidates like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) or former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will pump millions into efforts to assuage Republican voters they’ve infuriated, grassroots insurgent candidates like Paul will continue outside efforts like he’s been doing.
In the past two months, Paul has rolled out countless local and national endorsements, opened offices in New Hampshire and Iowa, and focused on campaigning in areas where other Republicans dare not show up, such as liberal college campuses, minority areas throughout the nation, and Silicon Valley. There’s also hardly any other candidates as good as Paul at gaining earned media and driving the political narrative—so he’s able to, without having to purchase advertising, push the conversation he wants to talk about.
One of the first real tests of any presidential campaign is building an organization that is deep enough in the early states to build momentum and wide enough around the country to sustain the long slog that is a national campaign.
Paul has surpassed such expectations as, in addition to his energized and large grassroots following of liberty supporters, his early state operation has been flexing its muscle since the senator went on his five state announcement tour, packing the house at each spot. Since then, the Senator has announced 125 members to his New Hampshire leadership team, including 25 state representatives and two state senators. He’s been lauded for operational efficiency in Iowa and amassed hundreds of volunteers in South Carolina.
And that’s not to mention all the endorsements he’s pulled together, from people like Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan or Thomas Massie of his home state of Kentucky. Paul also has the endorsement of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, even though the two have been somewhat at loggerheads with each other since earlier this year on issues like Obamatrade and government surveillance.