Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, raised more than $10.4 million over the past three months, he announced Wednesday, revealing a sum that takes his already massive fundraising to new heights.
The latest haul, which brought O’Rourke’s cash-on-hand total to over $14 million, is easily his biggest yet. It tops the $6.7 million he raked in during the first quarter, which was more than double what the Republican incumbent, Ted Cruz, took in at the same time.
O’Rourke, who announced his latest fundraising figures Wednesday night on Facebook Live, also saw a big increase in the number of individual contributions to his campaign — from 141,000 in the first quarter to 215,000 during the most recent period.
Cruz has not yet released his second-quarter fundraising numbers but the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday that Cruz will report raising over $4 million and having $10 million cash on hand. Cruz’s campaign has not yet confirmed those figures ahead of a Sunday deadline to report them to the Federal Election Commission.
In any case, Cruz is expected to continue trailing O’Rourke in the money race. The incumbent has been outraised by his challenger for every period but one since the El Paso congressman launched his bid more than a year ago.
A Texas Tribune analysis published in May found that over the course of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018, O’Rourke raised $13.2 million through his campaign account compared to $11 million raised by Cruz via his campaign account and two affiliated political action committees. O’Rourke’s numbers have been robust enough to count him among the the top fundraisers in the country this cycle among candidates for the Senate, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Claire Parker contributed to this report.
