The milestone further solidifies Warren’s standing as a top fundraiser after a slow first three months in the presidential race, during which she raised just $6 million. Despite having sworn off private fundraisers, Warren raised $19.2 million in the second quarter, placing her behind only Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, and former Vice President Joe Biden during that period.
Warren posted a video Friday that showed her calling the supporter who made the millionth contribution. “I’m calling to say a double woo-hoo thank you!” she said. “This is how we’re going to do it.”
In an email the campaign sent to supporters about the accomplishment, Warren’s campaign manager, Roger Lau, described her presidential bid as a “100 percent people-powered campaign.”
“This is exciting proof of the momentum that we see on the ground across the country,” he wrote. “Powerful special interests and other campaigns are watching to see how ready we are to fight for big, structural change. And by hitting this first milestone, you’re helping to show them that change is coming sooner than they think.”
Sanders announced that he had crossed the million-donation threshold in April, and his campaign said Friday that it had reached 2 million donations July 11. He has raised $36.2 million this cycle, more than Warren’s $25.2 million total. But his haul in the second quarter, $18 million, was slightly less than Warren’s in that period, which ran from April through June.
Attracting small donations from a large number of individuals has taken on even greater importance this cycle as the Democratic National Committee has made grassroots fundraising a qualification standard for the debates. To earn a spot on the debate stage in September, candidates must have received donations from at least 130,000 unique contributors, a bar that, as of Friday morning, only eight of the 24 candidates had met, according to a New York Times analysis.
Warren’s campaign did not specify how many individuals had made donations this cycle, only that 1 million donations were made overall. Donors can make multiple contributions over the course of the campaign.
Warren’s strong fundraising in recent months coincided with a rise in polling that has firmly placed her in the top tier of candidates. She has been propelled in part by her steady stream of policy plans, which have brought attention to her campaign and helped shape the debate in the Democratic primary.
Warren will be onstage next to Sanders in the Democratic primary debate next week. The two candidates, the leading progressives in the field, debated on separate nights last month.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.