Donald Trump may emulate Bernie Sanders' fundraising strategy
Donald Trump's presidential campaign may be at odds with Democrats on the issues, but it could aim to emulate Bernie Sanders' campaign in one respect.
As fundraisers for Trump tackle raising hundreds of millions of dollars in the money race to catch up with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders' enormously successful fundraising in the Democratic primary race is being talked about in backroom discussions, two top donors who attended a Trump finance meeting told Reuters.
"The pitch to this group in the room was a traditional pitch, but the backroom discussion was, because of this being a populist movement, there's going to be significant outreach to, you know, those who give $1, $2, $20," Gaylord Hughey, Trump Texas fundraising co-chairman, told Reuters. "There's a huge opportunity there."
Trump has said he aims to raise $1 billion before November's general election, a number he's recently backed down on -- he told Bloomberg Politics that he'd need less because of the extensive free media coverage he's likely to continue getting. But Trump has also been late to serious fundraising efforts because of his commitment to largely self-funding his primary bid. At the meeting on Thursday, Corey Lewandowski, Reince Priebus, Paul Manafort and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were among the people who spoke.
During the Democratic primary race, Sanders raised more than $210 million through more than 7.4 million donations from individuals, which averaged $27 each, the report added.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, has surpassed the 1,237 delegate threshold needed to win the nomination. That designation won't become official, however, until the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July.