Beto O'Rourke topped Ted Cruz in fundraising for seven of the eight fundraising periods -- and wound up raising more than twice what Cruz raised. This was remarkable considering O'Rourke accepted no money from PAC's (only from individual donors), while Cruz did get PAC money.
Here's part of what Tom Benning reported in the Dallas Morning News:
Rep. Beto O'Rourke ended up raising an astonishing $80 million in his failed bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, putting an exclamation point on the El Paso Democrat's record-setting Senate fundraising haul.
The final tally, released late Thursday, is sure to intensify speculation that O'Rourke could mount a campaign in 2020 against Republican President Donald Trump.
Despite his relatively lean political resume, O'Rourke has received perhaps the most buzz of any potential Democratic contender for the White House. Even former President Barack Obama hailed him last month, right after the two reportedly met at Obama's office in D.C.
Much of the attention on O'Rourke has focused on a frenetic campaign style that helped him come within three points of toppling Cruz — the best a Democrat has done statewide in Texas in years — and a social-media-friendly charisma that captivated liberals all over the U.S.
But there's no overlooking the El Pasoan's herculean ability to muster up campaign cash.
O'Rourke's latest campaign finance report, filed with the Federal Election Commission, showed he hauled in $10.1 million from Oct. 18 to Nov. 26, a period that covers roughly the three weeks before and the three weeks after the Nov. 6 election.
That final push only upped the dollar figure on O'Rourke's Senate campaign record, a sum that came despite his decision to reject donations from political action committees.
O'Rourke instead built his war chest with individual contributions, collecting more than $61 million alone via ActBlue, an online portal that has made it easy for Democrats across the country to make recurring, small-dollar gifts to their favorite candidates.
He also had little trouble spending his bounty, ending the campaign with just $477,000 cash on hand.
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