Warren urges supporters to step up donations

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) emailed her supporters this morning, urging them to donate more as the fourth fundraising quarter — and the year — comes to a close.

“So far this quarter, we’ve raised a little over $17 million,” the email says. “That’s a good chunk behind where we were at this time last quarter.”

This is true; Warren’s campaign raised $24.6 million in the third quarter, second to only Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) campaign, which brought in over $25 million.

Warren’s campaign hopes to be at $20 million when the quarter ends in four days, the email says.

After being virtually tied with Democratic presidential primary front-runner former Vice President Joe Biden in October, Warren has hit a slump, falling behind Sanders in the polls and losing ground to South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Warren, along with Sanders, has sworn off big money donors, a talking point that came to a head in last week’s Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles.

The Massachusetts senator took a swing at Buttigieg, saying, in reference to a private donor event Buttigieg hosted in Napa Valley, “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States.”

Her attack strategy has somewhat backfired on her, as it was revealed after the fact that Warren herself had hosted a wealthy donor event in Boston that featured a souvenir wine bottle the summer before she announced her candidacy for president.