Rep. Beto O'Rourke Beto O'RourkeJimmy Carter says his son smoked pot with Willie Nelson on White House roof O'Rourke endorses Kennedy for Senate: 'A champion for the values we're most proud of' 2020 Democrats do convention Zoom call MORE (D-Texas) has raised more than $70 million in his bid challenging Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzSenate GOP set to vote on Trump's Supreme Court pick before election Supreme Court fight pushes Senate toward brink Crenshaw looms large as Democrats look to flip Texas House seat MORE (R-Texas).

The rising Democratic star's latest campaign filing with the Federal Election Commission showed that he raised almost $8.5 million in the first 17 days of October, which brought his net contributions since January 2017 to about $70.3 million.

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O'Rourke spent $21 million during the first half of October and still had $10.3 million on hand.

The $70 million he's raised far outpaces the sum Cruz has brought in.

Cruz has raised about $30 million since early 2017, when O'Rourke entered the race, according to Dallas Morning News. The newspaper notes that Cruz has raised about $40.5 million when dating his fundraising back to 2012, which is when he won his seat.

"This is the most expensive Senate race in the country," Cruz said at campaign stop Friday in Nacogdoches, Texas, the newspaper reported. "Congressman O'Rourke is the No. 1 Democratic fundraiser in the country. And tens of millions of dollars are flooding into Texas from liberals across the country."