The super PAC serving as Ben Carson’s ground game in Iowa raised $3 million this fall, a small sum that reflects the low-dollar group’s unusual way of raising money.
The 2016 Committee — a super PAC that began as a group to draft Carson into the race — volunteered Tuesday that it had brought in $2.8 million with an average donation of just over $65. Super PACs are not required to disclose their latest fundraising hauls until late January, just before the Iowa caucus.
While most super PACs are designed to collect high-dollar checks from their wealthiest supporters, Carson’s main committee has upended that tradition. A second Carson super PAC has tried to raise that big money, but had been largely unsuccessful as of the last financial disclosures in July.
The Carson super PAC did not say how much cash it had on hand. During the first half of the year, the group spent a significant amount of its money to raise only a bit more, using expensive direct mail and list purchases to build a low-dollar donor list.
The group said it now has 31,000 volunteers and beat its fundraising goal.
“The fact that we doubled our fundraising total for the first half of 2015 in a single quarter is an encouraging sign that, every day, more and more Americans believe in Dr. Carson’s message and are hungry for principled, strong leadership and common sense governance,” said John Philip Sousa IV, the group’s head.