Elizabeth Warren Raises $3.15 Million In Challenge To Scott Brown

Elizabeth Warren Announces Huge Campaign Haul

WASHINGTON -- Consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren announced in an e-mail to her supporters that she has raised $3.15 million since entering the race to take on Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.).

Warren's haul was largely raked in through small-dollar donations. According to her campaign's e-mail, she received 96 percent of her contributions from donors giving less than $100. More than 11,000 citizens of Massachusetts donated to her campaign. The number of donors from out-of-state was not listed in the campaign e-mail.

The consumer advocate has been helped by her star status among liberal bloggers and charismatic online videos that have gone viral.

Prior to announcing her candidacy, Warren was working in the White House as a special advisor helping to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a government agency first imagined by Warren in an essay for the journal Democracy.

WATCH Warren speak on the campaign trail:

Brown has not yet announced his third-quarter numbers, but his fundraising has been brisk since his surprise win in a January 2010 special election to fill the seat vacated after Sen. Ted Kennedy passed away. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Brown has raised $22 million since he began his run for the Senate in 2009 and currently has $9.6 million cash-on-hand.

Most polls show an extremely close race between Warren and Brown. An October 2 UMass-Lowell/Boston Herald poll found Brown leading Warren 41-38 or within the margin of error. A Western New England University poll conducted from September 29 through October 5 found Brown leading 47-42 among registered voters. Warren still needs to get through a Democratic primary.

A highly contested election will necessitate large sums of money in an expensive media market state like Massachusetts. The special election that made Brown the first Massachusetts Republican elected to the Senate since 1979 was also the most contested Senate election that the state had seen in more than a decade. Brown and Democratic candidate Martha Coakley combined to spend $20.6 million in the special election.

Text of the Warren e-mail below:

Our campaign to give working families a voice in Washington is just starting, but we are already gaining strong support from across Massachusetts and our nation. Today, I've got some great news to share, and I wanted you to be the first to know:

In the first few weeks of our campaign, we raised $3.15 million, and the overwhelming majority of those contributions -- 96 percent -- were $100 or less. More than 11,000 people here in Massachusetts contributed.

These are pretty amazing numbers for our first official finance report, raised in a very short period of time, so you can understand why I want to say thanks a million -- and more! -- for this remarkable support. I couldn't do it without you.

With the big banks and special interests lining up against us, we know it's going to take a strong, grassroots campaign to win. In fact, did you see the headline in Politico a few weeks ago? Wall Street Readies Assault on Elizabeth Warren. The article says that the big banks and their legions of lobbyists are plotting "a strategy to hit hard," and they are "getting ready to pounce." We know they'll pay any price to try to stop us.

That's why your support is more important than ever. I need you to help us build the strongest grassroots campaign we can by encouraging your friends and family to join us, too:

Forward this email and invite everyone you know to sign up at ElizabethWarren.com.

Share with your friends on Facebook, or post an update on Twitter.

However you do it, add to the momentum.

We are in this together. We are fighting back for the middle class families who are getting hammered here in Massachusetts and across the country. We are fighting for the future of America.

Thank you for being a part of this.

Elizabeth Warren

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