“I really had no idea what to expect,” Pearson said.
Within hours, Sanders had emailed his massive list of donors asking for donations to Pearson’s campaign and those of seven other state legislative candidates — from South Carolina to South Dakota. That night, as Pearson was walking to dinner, he logged in to his online fundraising platform and found that the appeal had already generated $30,000 in donations.
“I just about fell over,” he said. “I was totally stunned.”
By Friday afternoon, that number had doubled: According to Pearson, 12,185 Sanders supporters had donated $60,500 to his campaign. That’s far more than candidates typically spend to compete in the six-member Chittenden County Senate district — and more than the roughly $40,000 Pearson had hoped to raise.
“What it means for me is now I don’t have to spend time asking a small number of donors for big checks. That’s not exactly comfortable for me,” he said, noting that he’s long fought for public election financing. “I feel pretty great to have Bernie financing. He has helped crowd-source my campaign and fund it, and that’s pretty amazing.”
Pearson’s early fundraising success likely demonstrates just how powerful Sanders will remain even if he fails to win the Democratic nomination. Throughout his campaign, the Vermont senator has raised more than $212 million from more than 2.4 million individuals, making his list of donor email addresses among the most valuable in American politics.
A Sanders spokesman did not respond to a request for comment Friday about how the campaign selected its endorsees, nor how many supporters received the fundraising solicitation. But the list of candidates Sanders is backing includes many who endorsed his presidential campaign, including South Carolina Reps. Justin Bamberg (D-Bamberg) and Terry Alexander (D-Florence).
“Bernie believes that the path toward bold change requires leaders to take back control of state capitols around the country and ensure fair redistricting in 2020,” Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said Tuesday in a written statement. “The leaders we’re raising money for today are the members of Congress, senators and presidential candidates of tomorrow.”
Sanders hasn’t restricted his support to Statehouse candidates. He previously endorsed four congressional candidates, including Zephyr Teachout, a Vermont native running for Congress in New York, and Tim Canova, a Florida law professor challenging Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. On Thursday, Sanders also asked supporters to donate to former Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold’s effort to defeat Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Pearson says he’s encouraged not only that Sanders managed to bankroll his campaign but that he could do so for like-minded candidates around the country.
“What it says to me is he really has woken up millions of Americans who are aching for Progressive change at all levels of government,” he said.
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As someone who made one of those small donations Mr. Pearson got a portion of, I say to him: welcome to the revolution, sir. And good luck up there! #FeelTheBern
I gave Chris his first $5 on the day he announced. I’m relieved Bernie did this, so now I can give more to Dave Zuckerman!
The way I see it, this has just raised the price of a Vermont State Senate seat from Chittenden County to at least $60,000.00. If memory serves, that’s just about double from the previous election- for a job that pays about $12,000.00 a year.
The source of any sum usually only serves to anger the other side. But this particular sum clearly removes the ability of the average Vermonter without “big money” connections to compete for a Senate seat. For someone who has railed against big money in politics his entire career, I wonder if Senator Sanders recognizes the historic significance of what he has just done to Vermont’s “people’s house.” Bernie Sanders is now a “big money” connection. His blessing may now be necessary for admission, at least from Chittenden County.
More importantly, should he be successful in the election, I wonder how Representative Pearson will be able to distinguish being elected based on his political philosophy as opposed to being branded with the label of having bought his seat. After the gloating is over about “revolution” and such, perhaps the average Vermonter might want to think about that.
Joe Benning, you really need to reconsider your definition of big money. Bernie’s average donation is roughly $27. These are the same donors. His non-Presidential bid average donation is likely less. What makes you think getting more supporters involved and donating small amounts is “big money”, or in any way bad? If you want to win, just have the most supporters. That’s how it’s supposed to work.
Don’t try to warp reality with fudgy math, Bernistas. From the BBC: “Nearly three-quarters of Senator Sanders’ donations have been under $200. His campaign said the average donation in 2015 was $27.16.” True enough. Then there is the Nurse’s Union Superpac, all the other labor unions, & American Crystal Sugar Corp ($10,000). So, doing some simple math, fully one quarter of all Bernie’s donations are over $200 each. That’s how you get an “average”. Simply put, most of Bernie’s money comes from big out of state donors, not from an endless stream of spaghetti dinners attended by starving blue haired old ladies. In fact, Bernie Sanders has the lowest percentage of donors from his home state of ANY of the candidates. http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-3…
Joe, actually it was Republican Skip Valley who set the record a few years ago spending over $100k. Recent challengers have come in around $40k. There are 139,000 residents in the 6-member district which is a lot of people to reach. If I’m successful and am still in the Senate when redistricting comes up (2021) I’d be pleased to work with you to split up the district. 6 members is too big. As for how I will feel if I am able to build on Bernie’s endorsement and get elected – I will do my best to stand up for working families as I have in the House. It never occurred to me to doubt why voters picked me, I assume they simply agreed with the issues I prioritize.
Chris: Skip Valley never arranged for a single legislative candidate to get $60,000.00. With respect, you are conflating who gives with who receives. Valley contributed to a party, which distributed to numerous campaigns including statewide. No legislative candidates received beyond finance limitations and no legislative race reached the comparably astronomical sum your race will now require. And in Valley’s case his was all in-state money. I’ll bet the vast majority of yours doesn’t come from Vermont. This is a seismic shift in legislative races. And should we both be in the Senate after the next census, I’ll gladly work with you to break up that six seat district.
Working people who believe in change, and as someone who is to the left of Sanders, we are talking about what would be mainstream working class politics pre 1980, are sending money across the country to individual candidates they believe in. And with modern technology we can connect around the world in ways unheard of. Its better than the blood money gathered by the Koch brothers and Karl Rove spread out to corporate driven Republicians and big pharma, big insurance, and big bank money going to many mainstream Democrats. This is not the simpler times of 1968 when George Aiken spent under 100$ on postage for relection.
Skip Vallee spent $134,000 on his own (losing) campaign for State Senate in 2000 — that was over and above what he may have given to the state GOP to distribute to other candidates (or to the RNC to buy an Ambassadorship).
http://sevendaysvt-test.newspackstaging.com/vermont/ambassa…
Certainly if Senator Benning is concerned that “this particular sum clearly removes the ability of the average Vermonter without “big money” connections to compete for a Senate seat”, he would recognize that threshold was already breached (and doubled) 16 years ago — and somehow the State Senate survived.
But it was a nice try.