Hillary Clinton Has Headlined More Than 350 Fundraisers Since Launching Campaign
Clinton has headlined more than 350 fundraisers since launching her campaign.
MIAMI -- After months of traveling the country to raise money for her campaign, Hillary Clinton's high-dollar fundraising effort is finally coming to a close.
The Democratic nominee will attend her last fundraiser of the 2016 campaign in Miami tonight, according to a campaign aide.
The fundraising circuit has been good to Clinton this cycle. From mansions in Bel Air to lunch at Justin Timberlake's home and a fundraiser at the estate of the late Steve Jobs in Northern California, these often lavish events have helped the former secretary of state raise over $500 million for her campaign.
The record haul has allowed Clinton's campaign to invest in down-ballot races across the country.
"Thanks to the more than 2.6 million Americans who have donated to this campaign, we are now working to expand the map into states like Arizona to have even more paths to 270 electoral votes and increase our investments to help win competitive down-ballot races across the country," said Clinton Campaign Manager Robby Mook.
The foundation for such an active and lucrative fundraising haul for Clinton during the 2016 campaign can be attributed to a group of mega-donors Hillary and Bill Clinton have relied on for years. Those donors have had a hand in hosting and helping coordinate the more than 350 fundraisers in 37 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico since Clinton launched her campaign in April 2015.
But, no place has served as Clinton as well as California. Clinton has taken 15 trips to California to fundraise with celebrities including Magic Johnson, Jennifer Aniston and Tobey McGuire.
Since the start of her campaign, Clinton has spent nearly 200 days fundraising, holding campaign events on some of those days as well. She's even used her birthday as an opportunity to raise money. In 2015 and 2016, Clinton celebrated her birthday with a celebrity-filled fundraisers. (Her most recent was held on Manhattan's West Side on Monday night.)
"We met our goals. We have had the money that we needed to compete and it’s, you know, we’re really grateful that people have given us as much support as they have and we feel that we spent the resources pretty well, too, and have what we need for the last two weeks," Clinton Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters today.
When asked about Clinton's holding a campaign event with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and then fundraising in the evening with just two weeks to go in the campaign, Palmieri explained: "We need resources to run out the campaign."
Clinton has also enlisted her surrogates to fundraise on her behalf, too. Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama have all headlined fundraisers that have raised money for Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.
Just last month, Clinton and Kaine brought in over $153 million for their campaign. And over the course of the entire campaign, they have raised more than $275 million for the Democratic National Committee and state parties.
Clinton's super PAC Priorities USA has also had a massive fundraising effort. The group announced today that it has raised $175 million this cycle.
Although a bulk of the money the Clinton campaign has raised comes from high-dollar fundraising events, the campaign says that most of its donations come from small-dollar donors.
According to a campaign release, the average donation to the Clinton campaign in September was $56, with 98 percent of the donations coming in increments of $250 or less.