Bernie Sanders Nearly Matched Hillary Clinton Dollar-for-Dollar in Fundraising — but There's Something Even More Significant About It

Insurgent Democratic presidential candidate and self-professed socialist Bernie Sanders was nearly on par with Hillary Clinton in fundraising over the last three months.

More significantly, the Vermont senator who rails against big money raised nearly all of his $26 million over the last Federal Election Commission quarter through small donations. By contrast, Clinton raised much of her $28 million through large donations and fundraising events.

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Clinton raised $19 million from about 60 fundraising events, according to the Associated Press reported, where big Democratic donors paid about $2,700 to attend. Sanders has held just seven such fundraisers, where supporters could get in by donating just $50. Sanders' campaign said it brought in 1.3 million donations from 650,000 individuals. Clinton's campaign has not said how many donors she had.

"We have a chance to send an unmistakable message about the size and strength of our campaign," Sanders tweeted hours before the fundraising deadline. "Chip in $3 before the midnight FEC deadline as a way of saying you have had enough of the billionaire class buying our elections."

Clinton’s latest fundraising total is down from the $47.5 million taken in in the previous quarter. The former secretary of state's campaign set of goal of $100 million by the end of the year.

“Thanks to our supporters, we are able to meet our goals and build an organization that can mobilize millions of voters to ensure Hillary Clinton is their fighter in the White House," campaign manager Robby Mook said in a statement.