Bernie Sanders’ campaign raised more than $42 million in February, the campaign announced on Tuesday.
Funds flowed in from 1.4 million contributions, averaging $30 each, despite the drubbing Sanders endured in South Carolina last week. By midnight on Monday, the campaign had more than doubled the totals earned by either Democratic candidate in January.
The high watermark in fundraising for the Sanders campaign was announced on the morning of Super Tuesday, when Sanders and Hillary Clinton will compete across 11 states and American Samoa. Tuesday could be a defining moment in the Democratic nomination contest if Clinton pulls ahead with enough delegates to make a Sanders win mathematically impossible.
The large amount of everyday-size donations raised in February kept in line with a frequent campaign brag for Sanders. “Working Americans chipping in a few dollars every week are changing the way campaigns in our country are financed,” Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, said in a press release.
Clinton has not yet released her fundraising totals for February. But last month, Sanders pulled ahead of Clinton for the first time, raising $20 million to her $15 million.
From the start of the nomination race up until the end of January, Clinton nearly doubled Sanders’ fundraising total, netting $188 million to Sanders’ $96.3 million, according to their Federal Election Commission filings in February. Even subtracting Clinton’s super PAC contributions—which Sanders, as a point of pride, does not have—the frontrunner out-earned Sanders by more than $35 million.
