Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton is raising and spending more than any other White House candidate, as she races to build a substantial field operation in her second bid for the presidency.
Her campaign amassed nearly $29.5 during the third quarter, most of which can be used for the primary fight, and her aides quickly burned through $25.8 million in those three months.
Despite the heavy spending, Clinton headed into the fall campaign with $33 million in available cash reserves for the nomination battle, edging past the $27 million rival Bernie Sanders had in leftover money at the start of October.
No other candidate — Democrat or Republican — had stockpiled as much money as Clinton for the race that may ultimately cost more than $2 billion.
Clinton and Sanders have set a blistering fundraising pace, racing past the leading Republican candidates over the summer and building big donor pools. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, has parlayed his popularity with liberals into a substantial campaign war chest, raising more than $26 million during the quarter.
He claims 650,000 donors; Clinton said she has roughly 400,000.
The closest rival to the Democrats in fundraising: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who collected more than $20 million between July and September, 60% of which came in amounts smaller than $200. Candidates favored by the Republican establishment, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, lagged far behind.
One of Clinton’s largest expenses during the third quarter: staff. Roughly $8.7 million — more than a third of her operating costs — went to payroll and related expenses.
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