Beto O'Rourke shatters record for quarterly fundraising in race against Ted Cruz
Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, announced Friday that his senatorial campaign raised more than $38.1 million in the third quarter of 2018, making it the largest quarterly fundraising haul in Senate history.
He received contributions from 802,836 individuals and his campaign turned away money from PACs, corporations and special interest groups. O'Rourke's opponent, Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, raised a third as much -- $12 million in the final quarter leading up to the midterm elections.
Still, Cruz maintains a lead in polls conducted since the beginning of October. CBS News shows Cruz with a six-point lead, 50 to 44 percent, and a Quinnipac University poll released earlier this week showed Cruz ahead by 9 percentage points. O'Rourke and Cruz will face each other in their second debate Tuesday evening in San Antonio, which will be carried by CBSN.
The previous single-quarter fundraising record was set by New York Republican Rick Lazio 18 years ago, in 2000, when he raised $22 million in his race against First Lady Hillary Clinton, who won the election.