Texas governor candidate Beto O’Rourke says he has record fundraising haul

Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, raised $27.6 million between Feb. 20 and June 30, his campaign said Friday.

The haul is more than any other state-level candidate in Texas history has raised in one reporting period, according to his campaign, which announced the contribution figures on Friday, the deadline for the latest round of campaign finance reports.

More than half a million contributions were made during the period, O’Rourke’s campaign said.

“We’re receiving support from people in every part of Texas who want to work together to ensure our state moves beyond Greg Abbott’s extremism and finally leads in great jobs, world class schools, the ability to see a doctor, keeping our kids safe and protecting a woman’s freedom to make her own decisions about her own body, health care and future,” O’Rourke said in a statement.

The campaign finance totals are the first since the mass shooting in Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary School on May 24. The reporting period also covers the days after Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24.

Abbott’s campaign later in the day announced he’d raised nearly $25 million in the same reporting period.

But O’Rourke’s nearly $30 million in contributions doesn’t come as a surprise to Abbott’s campaign. On Wednesday’s call with reporters, Abbott’s chief strategist and consultant Dave Carney predicted O’Rourke would bring in that much and wasn’t fazed. Carney didn’t say how much Abbott had raised.

Carney pointed out that O’Rourke also raked in big dollars when facing Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate. According to NBC, O’Rourke broke records when he reported $38 million in a single quarter during his 2018 bid, but still lost the race.

O’Rourke previously reported nearly $9 million in contributions for the period ending Dec. 31 after entering the governor’s race on Nov. 15. Abbott reported $18.9 million for the period that started on July 1, 2021.

Abbott outraised O’Rourke between Jan. 1 and Jan. 20 when the governor brought in $1.4 million to O’Rourke’s $1.3 million. Abbott also raised more than O’Rourke between Jan. 21 and Feb. 19, when he received $3.8 million and O’Rourke $3 million.