Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren raised $3.15 million for her Senate campaign in the third quarter—bringing in more in that period than any Senate candidate across the nation in the previous quarter.
The fundraising total dwarfs the amount raised by Warren’s opponents in the Democratic field, and trumps incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown’s sum by a ratio of roughly two to one.
As of the third quarter’s end, Brown’s war chest totals $10.5 million. In polls, he remains slightly ahead of Warren, commanding 41 percent of the vote to Warren’s 38 percent in a poll of registered voters conducted earlier this month by the Boston Herald.
Warren’s funding came mostly from small donations. Ninety six percent of her contributions were donations of $100 or less, with a total of 11,000 Massachusetts residents giving to her campaign.
The majority of the donations flooded in after Warren announced her candidacy two weeks ago, according to a statement from the candidate.
Warren’s high-profile entrance into the race has transformed the competition for the Democratic nomination.
Both Newton mayor Setti Warren and activist Robert K. Massie have already dropped out of the race, each citing fundraising difficulties as a reason for their exit.
“The attention given to the many qualities of Elizabeth Warren have fundamentally changed how all the candidates operate in this race, and it had particular consequences for me,” Massie told The Boston Globe.
But City Year co-founder Alan A. Khazei ’83—who is currently Warren’s most formidable opponent within the Democratic field—said publicly that he has the funds to compete against Warren in the in the year leading up to the Democratic primaries.
Khazei has also criticized Warren for accepting funds from political action committees, a source of support which he claims to have refused.
Khazei raised $365,000 this quarter, the second largest sum among Massachusetts Democratic candidates.
“Candidates are reassessing, based on the inability to raise money,” Khazei’s spokesperson Scott Ferson told The Boston Globe. “We don’t have that problem. Alan is in this for the long haul.”
More details about Warren’s fundraising will be released next weekend, according to the Federal Election Commission.