Sanders passes 2 million campaign contributions

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Aides to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., say he has now received more than 2 million campaign contributions.

The campaign told The Washington Post they expect to surpass President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign by the end of the year. They have already beat out Obama's 2008 presidential run by this point in the election cycle.

While the senator has not raised the most money in the race so far, he has received the largest number of contributions of any candidate in either party.

Sanders' campaign made a big push Wednesday to pass the 2 million mark, which aides say happened around 8:11 p.m. EST. The campaign put together an ad commemorating the event.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Sanders raised just more than $41 million in the last filing period that ended Sept. 30. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised just more than $77 million during the same period.