Yang campaign raises $750K since debate

Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign announced Friday that it has raised $750,000 since Thursday night’s primary debate.

The campaign said in a statement that the total was fueled by 20,000 donations, a third of which came from first-time donors. The latest haul builds on the $2 million the campaign recently raised over a 10-day span while it went on a bus tour of Iowa.

“The most important thing we can do over the coming weeks is make sure that Iowans and New Hampshirites are hearing Andrew’s message,” said Yang campaign chief Nick Ryan. “It’s exciting that voters are seeing much more of Andrew in-person and on TV, but there’s still more to be done — we’ve found that when voters truly listen to what Andrew has to say, they very quickly consider him as one of their top choices.”

“His message, in conjunction with our strong ground-game, spell out tremendous upside for this campaign come February.”

The campaign’s fundraising since the debate comes after Yang gave what was widely viewed as a strong performance at the event. The tech entrepreneur lambasted the lack of diversity on stage as the only candidate of color to qualify for the debate, and frequently touted his central proposal of a “freedom dividend” to give every American adult $1,000 a month. 

While the haul definitely serves as a boost for Yang, it is unclear how long the surge of support will last. 

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) saw a similar spike in donations and a surge in the polls after a heated clash with former Vice President Joe Biden at the first primary debate, only to see her standing in national and early state surveys steadily shrink over the next several months before she dropped out in early December. 

Yang has garnered a fervent social media following since launching his White House bid and has built up enough support to outlast governors, senators and members of the House who entered the 2020 race with higher name recognition.

However, Yang still trails several of the top-tier primary candidates in fundraising and is tied for sixth in the Real Clear Politics polling average.