Joe Biden beat Bernie and Beto by raising $6.3 million in 24 hours, but lost to them on a key metric

Eraldo Peres/AP Images

Joe Biden raked in $6.3 million in the first 24 hours of his 2020 presidential campaign.

• Former Vice President Joe Biden raised $6.3 million in the first 24 hours following his 2020 presidential campaign announcement on Thursday morning, Biden's campaign reported.
• According to the campaign, just under 97,000 individual donors gave money.
• The haul beats out the previous high water marks for fundraising by a 2020 Democratic candidate in the first 24 hours set by Beto O'Rourke and Bernie Sanders.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden raised $6.3 million in the first 24 hours following his 2020 presidential campaign announcement - more than any other Democrat in the field.

The money came from just under 97,000 individual donors - 65,000 of whom were new donors to Biden, the campaign reported Friday afternoon.

Sen. Bernie Sanders raised just under $6 million in the 24 hours after he joined the race in February, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke raised about $6.1 million in the same amount of time following his March announcement.

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But Sanders energized by far the most individual donors - with roughly 225,000 donors with an average donation of $27 in the first day of his campaign. O'Rourke had about 128,000 donors.

According to the campaign, the average online donation was $41, but based on the total number of donors and money raised, the overall average donation size was roughly $65.

Biden enters the race as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, topping most national polls and holding strong favorability numbered among primary voters. The former vice president also has the benefit of some leftover campaign infrastructure from the 2012 presidential run.

Fundraising has been especially critical for Democrats in the current presidential cycle since the Democratic National Committee now requires candidates to hit a threshold of 65,000 individual donors from at least 20 states in order to qualify for the primary debates.

Biden already qualified fo the debates by getting more than 1% of the vote in at least 3 national polls, but the former VP will also qualify by the DNC's fundraising criteria as well.

The numbers also come after reports that the former vice president raised concern about the fundraising numbers during a conference call with supporters this week.

But based on the eye-watering amount of money the campaign brought in, Biden shouldn't be too worried.