Election 2020: Mayor Pete Buttigieg Announces $7 Million In Donations For Presidential Campaign

Several of Democratic presidential candidates have drawn headlines for their early fundraising efforts ahead of February's Iowa caucuses. The latest update comes from a young mayor, who has quickly gained traction in recent weeks.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, announced on Monday that his campaign has already raised over $7 million in donations for the first fiscal quarter of 2019.

The 37-year-old entered the 2020 presidential campaign on Jan. 23. and sparked interest after a CNN town hall on March 10. The performance drew praise and his camp said that $600,000 was raised within 24 hours from over 22,000 donations.

"We (you) are out-performing expectations at every turn. I'll have a more complete analysis later, but until then: a big thank you to all our supporters," he wrote on Twitter.

The announcement also piggybacks on the previous news in March that Buttigieg hit the 65,000 donor threshold required to participate in the summer debates for the Democratic primaries.

While the list of donors hasn’t been released, Buttigieg joined a short list of nominees who have already released donation numbers.

Former Rep. Robert "Beto" O’Rourke announced his campaign had raised $6.1 million in the first 24 hours, while Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont announced he raised $10 million in his first week.

Buttigieg entered the race as a longshot due to his limited name recognition. According to CNBC, more than half of registered voters had not heard of him.

The last sitting mayor to successfully run for their party’s nomination was DeWitt Clinton in 1812, who would later lose to James Madison.

Buttigieg is also the first openly gay Democratic candidate to run for the White House and just the second openly gay candidate to run, with the first being Republican Fred Karger in 2012.