Elizabeth Warren. Courtesy.
Elizabeth Warren, a native Oklahoman and Massachusetts senator, raised nearly $22,000 in Oklahoma in the second quarter of 2019, the most among Democratic challengers to President Donald Trump, Federal Election Commission data shows.
And Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who Democrats in Oklahoma favored in the 2016 presidential primary, seems to have lost his momentum in the Sooner State, slipping to fourth among Democratic contenders.
But, unsurprisingly, Trump still dominates in Oklahoma. He’s raised nearly $335,000 so far in 2019, more than every Democratic candidate combined (Democrats have totaled a little under $160,000 so far this year).
Donald Trump appears at a rally in Tulsa in January 2016. Dylan Goforth/THE FRONTIER
Data released by the FEC — provided by Propublica and analyzed by The Frontier — shows Warren has totaled more than $26,000 in the first two quarters of 2019. She showed a nearly 400 percent increase in fundraising in the second quarter, after only raising just more than $4000 in quarter one.
Warren’s momentum in Oklahoma matched the gains she made nationwide in the second quarter. She reported raising more than $19 million nationwide during that span, compared to only $6 million in the first quarter of 2019.
Warren’s campaign grew in popularity among Democratic voters in April when she became the first major candidate to call for impeachment proceedings to be held against Trump. All other major Democratic candidates have since followed suit.
Overall, Warren still trails Texas presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke by a small amount. O’Rourke, who ran for congress in 2018 and was narrowly defeated by Sen. Ted Cruz (who Oklahomans favored in the 2016 presidential primary), has raised nearly $28,000 in 2019, though his momentum in the state dwindled in the second quarter.
O’Rourke reported raising more than $17,000 in the first quarter, but only barely topped $10,000 in the second quarter.
In all, Warren and O’Rourke lead a group of four Democrats at the top of Oklahoma fundraising. Pete Buttigieg, Mayor of South Bend, Ind., raised slightly more than $25,000 in 2019, placing third among challengers to Trump.
Sanders is fourth among Democrats so far, raising almost $24,000.
Kamala Harris, the California Senator and former California Attorney General is fifth, having raised nearly $16,000. She’s followed by former Vice President Joe Biden, who has just under $12,000, all of which came in the second quarter of 2019. Biden didn’t declare officially as a candidate until late April.
