Tim Ryan's Uphill Battle with 2020 Fundraising, Second Round of Debates

Democratic candidates for president have begun filing their fundraising reports. The deadline to file is July 15.

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan has not yet filed a report, but he said his campaign saw its best fundraising in the days after the first Democratic debate. He admitted it’s been an uphill climb.

Ryan: pleased with his campaign's fundraising

“I don’t have a big Ivy League network like most of the candidates have. I’m not from a big coastal state with a huge financing apparatus, but we’re building it out," he said. "I’m really excited, and I’m glad the debate helped us raise some money, so we’re just going to keep getting the message out. Once we get out and people hear us, they like what we say. And they want to support us, so we just want to keep things rolling.”

Ryan is hopeful he’ll be on the stage when candidates face off in the next debates July 30and 31. To qualify, candidates must raise money from at least 65,000 donors, or have a 1% showing in three polls.

While unions provided Ryan's congressional campaign with thousands of dollars in the past year, he says his presidential campaign is mostly being supplemented by individual donations.

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