Amy Klobuchar said her campaign has raised more than $12 million online since the New Hampshire Democratic debate on Feb. 7, helping to scale up her 2020 presidential effort heading into Super Tuesday.
With the nomination contest moving to Nevada and then South Carolina in the next two weeks, the Minnesota senator is trying to build on her newfound momentum, including making appearances on four Sunday television interviews.
“I will get the money from people as this goes on, as I emerge as a stronger candidate,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Most of her donors this month have been “new people, who have discovered me for the first time and get what I’m focused on, which is bringing people with me instead of shutting them out,” she said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We see ourselves on an upward path.”
A strong debate performance days before the New Hampshire primary helped Klobuchar exceed expectations by winning 20% of the vote in the state. She finished behind Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg but ahead of one-time heavyweights Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.
On “Meet the Press” Klobuchar didn’t answer directly a question on which nominating contests she could win, but mentioned Colorado and Virginia as states she could do well in.
Centrist Coalition
The senator said she can pull together a centrist coalition, including moderate Republicans who want a change in the White House. She’s competing in that space with candidates including Buttigieg and Biden.
Klobuchar, 59, also said that ultimately she’d support whoever wins the Democratic nomination, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“I have been very clear that I’m going to support whoever comes out of that convention, who is our Democratic nominee. If he is the one that emerges from that convention, I would support him,” Klobuchar said.
(Disclaimer: Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
Klobuchar’s jump in support in New Hampshire followed after a fifth-place finish in Iowa. She’d campaigned heavily in the Midwestern state, which borders her own, hoping to break into the top tier of candidates.
Blizzard of Support?
“You know, when I announced in the blizzard [in February 2019], they didn’t even think we’re going to finish that speech, much less get through the summer and the debate, and we are clearly surging,” she said on ABC.
While New Hampshire is overwhelmingly white, Nevada has a large Latino population, and Klobuchar is polling in sixth place ahead of the state’s Feb. 22 caucuses. In South Carolina, where the majority of Democratic primary voters are black, she’s also in sixth place for the Feb. 29 primary.
Klobuchar attributed her dismal support among minority voters — the latest national poll from Quinnipiac University showed her at zero percent among black voters — to a lack of name recognition that she’s trying to change, helped by her fresh haul of cash.
“I can finally be competitive on the airwaves and get teams in every single Super Tuesday state,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The Klobuchar campaign announced it raised more than $2.5 million within a few hours after the polls closed in New Hampshire on top of another $4 million that came in following the Feb. 7 debate. Based on Sunday’s comments, the money has continued to flow in.
‘Hard, Hard Work’
That’s a change for Klobuchar, who raised $25.4 million for her campaign through the end of 2019, according to Federal Election Commission filings, putting her sixth among candidates relying on donations to fund their campaigns. Political novice Andrew Yang, who dropped out of the race this month, outraised her with $30 million.
“I never thought I was going to be able to compete with some of my opponents’ bank accounts, but what I don’t have in that I have made up in hard, hard work,” she said on ABC.
This month’s influx of cash fueled a seven-figure advertising buy in Nevada and a hiring spree in the state, where she’s adding 50 campaign staffers. She’s also airing an ad in South Carolina.
But she’s still outmatched financially by other campaigns. Billionaire Tom Steyer has spent an estimated $15.5 million, according to Advertising Analytics. Sanders has spent $2.3 million and Buttigieg has spent $1.3 million. Klobuchar’s booked ads worth less than $800,000 so far.
Klobuchar is fourth in the delegate count with 7. She trails Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has 22, Sanders with 21 and Warren with 8. Biden, once the race’s front-runner, has won six delegates.
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