Former U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro revealed on Friday that he had finally raised the nearly $1 million that he needed in order to continue his bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.
“I’m excited to announce that last night we surpassed our $800K fundraising goal,” Castro tweeted. “With the help of 50K donors, we raised more than $1M for the month of October, one of our biggest months yet. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us get there.”
The announcement comes less than two weeks after Castro’s campaign gave supporters an ultimatum to raise $0.8 million in donations by the end of October or else risk the end of his White House bid.
I’m excited to announce that last night we surpassed our $800K fundraising goal.
With the help of 50K donors, we raised more than $1M for the month of October, one of our biggest months yet.
Thank you so much to everyone who helped us get there. pic.twitter.com/lHAuUDSEKm
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 1, 2019
The former San Antonio mayor has been lagging behind his Democratic opponents in both fundraising and polling. As of publication, Castro has not even hit the 5% polling benchmark in any nationally recognized poll and is hovering just under 1% support among Democratic primary voters nationwide, according to the RealClearPolitics national polling average.
“Time and time again this campaign has defied expectations with the support of an army of dedicated, grassroots supporters,” Maya Rupert, Castro’s campaign manager, said in a statement.
“We’re not going anywhere — Julián will keep being a voice for the voiceless, and a champion for the Americans who have been left behind,” the statement continued. “We will keep lifting up important issues others choose to ignore, and demonstrating by example why Secretary Castro is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump.”
Castro’s plea to supporters echoed a similar move made by one of his Democratic challengers, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). Booker revealed earlier in the season that if he would prove unable to raise $1.7 million in donations during the third fundraising quarter, he would be forced to drop out of the presidential race. The ultimatum, however, resulted in Booker raising more than $6 million — more than three times what he initially needed.
Castro announced that he was seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in January 2019 despite having significantly lower name recognition than many of his primary opponents. While Castro has appeared in all of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) primary debate thus far, he has not yet met the required threshold to receive an invitation to the fifth debate in November.
However, Castro’s campaign said the fundraising haul will provide him with the necessary resources to “sustain the campaign and make a push for the November and December Democratic debates.”
Thus far, only nine candidates in the crowded Democratic primary field have qualified for the next debate and have subsequently accepted their invitation onto the stage: Former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), financier Tom Steyer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and entrepreneur Andrew Yang.
In order to nab a podium at the next primary debate, presidential hopefuls must raise campaign donations from no fewer than 165,000 individual donors. In addition, they must also receive at least 3% of the vote in four general DNC-approved polls and 5% in two early-state polls — such as those in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, or South Carolina.
While Castro has met the donor threshold, he has not received any qualifying polls.