Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg says he needs to raise USD 13 million to stay competitive through the 14-state Super Tuesday contests on March 3, despite strong finishes in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
The tricky financial picture for one of the surprise candidates of 2020 comes as the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, reported Thursday that he spent more than twice as much as he brought in during January, even as he was simultaneously ramping up for the Iowa and New Hampshire contests.
But the Iowa Democratic Party's debacle in reporting results may have dampened what Buttigieg could have expected to raise immediately after Iowa.
Buttigieg ended with a near-tie in Iowa with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has fielded a strong organization and fundraising this cycle after competing strongly against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 presidential nomination.
The Iowa deal took some luster off what would have been a great night and a great week, said Bobby Mandell, a Florida lawyer among Buttigieg's most influential donors.
I know he did fine that week, but not as well as he could have done, had he been able to claim outright victory."
No longer fighting solely to distinguish himself chiefly from Sanders, Buttigieg told donors in the USD 13-million appeal Thursday, We are now also up against a billionaire who is throwing colossal sums of money on television instead of doing the work of campaigning."