Ted Cruz challenger Beto O'Rourke raked in half a million dollars more than Cruz last quarter

Beto ORourke draws in more than Ted Cruz again

(Image credit: Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images)

Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), who's running against Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in 2018, raised more than $2.4 million in the last three months of 2017, about half a million dollars more than Cruz's $1.9 million, the O'Rourke and Cruz campaigns reported Sunday. O'Rourke, considered the underdog, received individual contributions from 55,000 people in the fourth quarter, up from nearly 33,000 in the third quarter, O'Rourke told The Texas Tribune. The entire $2.4 million is for O'Rourke's re-election campaign, while Cruz's haul is spread among a number of affiliated groups.

Cruz still has a larger campaign war chest — $7.3 million to O'Rourke's $4.6 million — but O'Rourke is closing the gap. Cruz out-fundraised O'Rourke in the third quarter while O'Rourke beat Cruz in the second quarter. "The fact it's the most we've raised and that we are adding tens of thousands of more individual contributions shows that the interest in the campaign is only increasing," O'Rourke told the Tribune. "And the fact that most of that is Texans is really, really encouraging."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.