Bernie Sanders campaign claims over a million donors

The presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders claims to have netted more than one million individual donors.

The claim is not independently verifiable, but if true, Sanders says he will have been the fastest presidential candidate ever to reach the milestone, according to MSNBC.

Federal law requires campaigns to report individual donations of more than $200. The campaign for the Democratic hopeful, a Vermont senator, says its average individual donation is less than $25.

Sanders, who is Jewish, touts the small donations as evidence of grassroots support. Sanders’ Democratic rival, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, raises much of her campaign funds from larger donors.

Next month, the campaigns will release their financial reports.

Clinton remains the front-runner nationally, with tens of millions in her campaign account, endorsements from top party officials and hundreds of paid staff at her Brooklyn headquarters. But though she still leads in early national polls, she trails Sanders in surveys taken in the first two states to hold nominating contests: Iowa and New Hampshire.

Sanders, a longtime liberal fighter, highlighted his fidelity to progressive causes, during a Saturday speech at the New Hampshire Democratic annual convention.

He stressed his opposition to the war in Iraq, a contrast with Clinton whose support for the invasion undermined her 2008 primary bid against Obama.

“I am a proud progressive,” he said. “That is what I did yesterday, that is what I did 25 years ago, that is what I’ll do tomorrow and that is what I’ll do if elected president of the United States.”

He also accused Republican of sabotaging future generations to keep corporate dollars flowing from fossil fuel companies opposed to tacking climate change.

“They’re more worried about their campaign donations than their kids or their grandchildren,” Sanders said.