[I]t was all good news and positive projections from the Bernie 2020 camp during a press call this week.
The campaign has already raised $10 million since Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., officially entered the race in late February, 1 million people have signed up to volunteer for the campaign and a staff of 70 is already in place, with plans to announce more primary state staffers within the week.
“It’s early but we feel good where we are at,” said Faiz Shakir, the new campaign manager. “The Sanders campaign feels strong and is getting stronger.”
But the timeline for the long awaited release of Sanders’ tax returns remains an open question. Shakir said the “only thing to say is soon. We’re working on it.”
Shakir talked to reporters on a conference call along with Jeff Weaver, the former campaign head and now a senior advisor, and Ben Tulchin, the campaign’s pollster.
Campaign staffers were as surprised as anyone that Sanders raised nearly $6 million in the first 24 hours after announcing his candidacy — far outpacing Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., who raised $1.5 million in her first 24 hours.
“Based on our estimates, we were thinking it would be good, maybe $3 million to $4 million, but we were not expecting that,” said a Sanders advisor.
Shakir has said he intends to use the outpouring of support to the senator’s advantage in the early primary states. After that, Sanders will focus on states that have been historically Democrat but that Trump turned red in 2016.
Weaver said Sanders is in a much stronger position than 2015, when many people didn’t even know who he was.
“We had to use a lot of resources to introduce the senator to America. The campaign starts now where the senator is almost universally known,” Weaver said. “It’s an opportunity for the senator to speak much more in-depth about important issues.”
Weaver was the campaign manager for Sanders’ 2016 bid for the presidency. This time around, he will serve as a senior advisor. That change was made in January, shortly after allegations of sexual misconduct in the 2016 campaign came to light.
The top advisors also addressed Sanders difficulty connecting with minority voters, especially in the South.
Tulchin, the campaign’s polling tsar, said that internal polls show Sanders “extremely well positioned to win the Democratic primary and beat Donald Trump in a 2020 match up up.”
Polls indicate Sanders is leading every other candidate by double digits (there are currently 13 Democrats who have announced), and Tulchin said the Vermont senator has made inroads among people of color. Without giving specifics, Tulchin said Sanders is a “highly popular Democratic candidate” with people of color — specifically African American and Latino voters.
Tulchin said Sanders’ strong internal polling numbers among Latino voters and African Americans means he will be the favorite in diverse states he struggled to carry in 2016.
“This has huge implications in the early states like Nevada and California with large Latino populations, and Texas of course,” Tulchin said. “And also national election implications.”
Sanders is scheduled to make stops in South Carolina on Thursday before heading to Nevada on Saturday. He lost to Hillary Clinton in both states in 2016.
