There have been several updates in the Bernie Sanders campaign, between his temporary issue with the DNC and his record-breaking campaign fundraising. Here’s our update on everything you need to know about what’s been going on with the Sanders campaign lately.
Sanders’ Campaign Lost Access to Voter Files
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) cut off Sanders’ campaign’s access to the nationwide voter file, according to BuzzFeed News.
This happened as a result of a 30-minute technical error that allowed Sanders’ campaign access to internal files for other Democratic candidates, including Hilary Clinton. Josh Uretsky, former national data director for the Sanders campaign, made copies of Clinton’s files. Uretsky claimed he was doing so in an attempt to show the DNC exactly what type of files were able to be accessed during the technical glitch.
Uretsky was suspended after the data breach, along with two additional staff members, according to Fortune.
The DNC shut off access to the entire system for the Sanders’ campaign.
Acceess to the voter database was restored by December 19, according to USA Today. The decision came right before a deadline for the lawsuit Sanders’ campaign filed against the DNC, accusing them of trying to undermine his run. There was also massive backlash against the suspension from Sanders’ supporters—250,000 signatures were gathered on a MoveOn campaign.
Yahoo! Politics reports that Sanders apologized to Clinton for accessing her campaign data during the Democratic debate Saturday, but ultimately placed the blame on whoever allowed the breach to happen in the first place.
Sanders Reached 2 Million Campaign Contributions
During the DNC controversy, the Sanders campaign made $1 million in donations in a single day. The campaign has now reached over 2.3 million contributions as of December 20.
Sanders’ campaign now holds the record for the most contributions for a White House bid, which was previously held by President Obama in 2011.
His campaign contributions overwhelmingly come from grassroots contributors, with the average contribution being below $25. TheStreet reports that about three quarters of the donations come from those who contributed less than $200 during the calendar year.