(Bloomberg) -- Beto O’Rourke raised $9.4 million in just 18 days since announcing his run for the Democratic presidential nomination, putting him at a fundraising pace to match Bernie Sanders, the current frontrunner in a crowded field.

The former Texas congressman, who set a quarterly fundraising record for Senate candidates during his failed 2018 bid to topple Republican Senator Ted Cruz, raised the money from 218,000 contributions giving an average donation of $43, according to his campaign.

Small-dollar grassroots fundraising has become a benchmark for the Democratic candidates, many of whom are shunning large fundraising events and corporate political action committees.

"Not only is this a sign of our grassroots strength during the first two weeks of our campaign but it is a sign of what’s possible when you put your full trust in the people of this country,” O’Rourke said in a statement.

Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist senator from Vermont who lost the nomination in 2016 to Hillary Clinton, said Tuesday that he raised $18.2 million in the 41 days since he launched his campaign, leveraging one of the biggest online donor lists in national politics. He has led in polls among the declared Democratic candidates.

California Senator Kamala Harris said Monday she raised $12 million from more than 218,000 individual contributions, while Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, reported collecting $7 million from more than 158,000 donors.

The reported totals are impressive, but still less than the $25 million Barack Obama raised during the first quarter of 2007. That score immediately added credibility to the campaign of a man who was then the junior senator from Illinois. There were far fewer candidates competing in that nomination contest than the 15 who are running so far this year.

The first-quarter numbers offer early evidence of who is generating excitement among the party’s grassroots donors.

The candidates must report fundraising and spending to the Federal Election Commission by April 15, but individual campaigns often announce collections shortly after the quarter is over to try to showcase their support.

To contact the reporters on this story: John McCormick in Chicago at jmccormick16@bloomberg.net;Bill Allison in Washington at ballison14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, ;Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo

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