Trump far outpaces Democratic rivals in election fundraising

Donald Trump's re-election team on Thursday revealed that he sits atop a staggering campaign war chest, underlining scale of challenge facing US president's Democratic rivals at start of an election year. sprawling Democratic field meanwhile lost ar candidate when Julian Castro, only Hispanic in 2020 field, anunced he was ending his bid.

That leaves 14 candidates still in running to take on Trump -- and competing for much-needed donations that keep a campaign's all-important ground game and advertising operations going. In fourth quarter of 2019, even as Trump was mired in a political scandal that resulted in his impeachment by House of Representatives, he came out on top, raising a staggering $46 million.

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It was his best fundraising period in a year that brought in $143 million for his re-election efforts, campaign anunced, easily outpacing Democrats seeking to replace him. And while Democrats are w effectively raising funds to compete against one ar ahead of general election in vember, Trump has luxury of stockpiling funds until his opponent is selected.

Trump's campaign w has an impressive $102.7 million in cash on hand. " president's war chest and grassroots army make his re-election campaign an unstoppable juggernaut," Trump 2020 campaign manr Brad Parscale said in a statement.

"Democrats and media have been in a sham impeachment frenzy and president's campaign only got bigger and stronger with our best fundraising quarter this cycle." 

president faces an upcoming trial in US Senate, where a Republican majority is expected to acquit him. Trump himself argued that impeachment drama while embarrassing for his legacy has led to a flood of donations. He retweeted a report that describes his campaign raising a whopping $10 million in two days following impeachment vote.

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Trump's fundraising higher than his challengers

Trump's fundraising haul is significantly higher than that of his challengers including Bernie Sanders, liberal senator who has so far raked in most -- $34.5 million in 2019's final three months -- of any Democratic contender. Sanders team also said it topped a table threshold of five million individual donations, a figure t reached by his 2016 campaign until March of that year.

"Toger, we're proving you don't need to beg wealthy and powerful for campaign contributions in order to win elections," Sanders said.

Democratic rival Pete Buttigieg also posted strong numbers, raising $24.7 million in fourth quarter, bringing his 2019 total to more than $76 million. Buttigieg -- who until Wednesday served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana -- has been a campaign surprise and leads in polling in Iowa, state which votes first in mination race, on February 3.

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Frontrunner Joe Biden, former vice president, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Amy Klobuchar have yet to anunce ir quarterly hauls.

One candidate showing unexpected resilience is Andrew Yang, an Asian-American entrepreneur with political experience who remains in contention against far more established party figures. Yang raised $16.5 million in fourth quarter, capping a dramatic uptrend from early 2019 when he was a virtual unkwn.

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But while Biden, Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar have qualified for next Democratic debate, on January 14, Yang has t. Neir have Senator Cory Booker, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, or billionaire Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York who only jumped into race in vember.

45-year-old Castro also failed to meet qualifications. His exit means Democratic field becomes whiter and older, although two women and one gay candidate, Buttigieg, will be in January's debate. Tributes to Castro poured in from or Democrats. "Your voice and campaign were invaluable in sticking up for underrepresented communities and pushing field forward," said Booker, only remaining African-American candidate in top 10. 

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