Sanders Raises $1.3 Million From Democratic Super PAC Ad Against Him

(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders raised $1.3 million in the first 24 hours after a Democratic Super PAC released television ads attacking him.

The Democratic Majority for Israel placed $800,000 worth of TV ads asserting the Vermont senator would be unable to beat President Donald Trump in November because of a recent heart attack and his progressive platform. Sanders’s fundraising numbers were first reported Wednesday in the New York Times.

The ad began airing Wednesday, but Sanders alerted supporters of it in a fundraising email on Tuesday. The Democratic Majority for Israel is led by Mark Mellman, a Democratic political consultant whose past clients have included former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer and dozens of other congressional Democrats. His group, which registered with the Federal Election Commission on July 2, will disclose its donors for the first time on Friday.

Mellman has been critical of some progressive members of Congress for their positions on Israel, including Representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, both of whom have endorsed Sanders. The group mockingly congratulated Tlaib for breaking her boycott of Israel by using Israeli software in her website.

Sanders is getting support from Vote Nurses Values PAC, a super political action committee tied to the California Nurses Association, which has spent about $280,000 on radio ads, text messaging, mailers and other items backing his campaign.

(DISCLAIMER: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)

This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.

To contact the reporters on this story: Emma Kinery in Des Moines at ekinery@bloomberg.net;Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Magan Crane

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