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Entrepreneur Andrew Yang made a major splash during opening statements of the 2020 Democratic Debates earlier this month when he announced a $1,000-a-month giveaway. Yang vowed to award $1,000 a month for an entire year to 10 Americans who entered the giveaway on his official website — no strings attached.
As you might expect, the giveaway attracted plenty of attention and now we are learning just how much of a success it was.
According to Politico, more than 450,000 people entered the giveaway after the debate ended. In the 72 hours following its announcement, Yang’s campaign was also able to raise more than $1 million — much of that coming from those who entered the raffle.
The giveaway continues to accept entries until Thursday, September 19 at 11:59 p.m. ET. You can enter Yang’s freedom dividend giveaway on Yang2020.com.
The giveaway was a teaser of Yang’s “freedom dividend” which has been his major campaign promise. Yang says that if he is elected that he will grant each American adult $1,000 a month in a universal basic income.
After the giveaway was announced, there were some concerns that it could violate campaign finance law but Yang says that he did his due diligence and that everything checks out.
“We have an army of lawyers who signed off and said it’s perfectly legal,” Yang said.
“But I want everyone to reflect for a moment that we’re at a point in time where a billionaire can spend $10 million-plus buying his way onto the debate stage and everyone thinks that’s A-OK. But then us literally giving money away to Americans to improve their lives, do whatever they want, somehow that’s problematic?”
We’ll have to see what the longshot candidate has up his sleeves for the next debate.
The next Democratic Debate will take place on October 15 in Ohio. If enough candidates qualify, there may be a second night added on October 16.
