Updated at 9:50 p.m. to include the latest fundraising figures from Sen. Ted Cruz.

WASHINGTON — The Texas Democrat hoping to oust Sen. Ted Cruz is posting his largest campaign fundraising haul yet: $2.4 million.

El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke, now touring the state in a blitz of town halls, announced the figures on Sunday during a live-streamed campaign rally in Houston.

It's the second time O'Rourke has out-raised the Republican favorite in a single fundraising quarter. Following O'Rourke's news, the Cruz campaign announced it brought in $1.9 million in the final quarter of 2017.

But the sitting senator raised more than $7.1 million in 2017, according to a spokeswoman for Cruz, and closed the year with a sizable $7.3 million in cash on hand. O'Rourke heads into the election year with $4.6 million in cash.

According to figures released by the O’Rourke campaign — a few days ahead of when federal filings are due — the congressman exceeded his previous quarterly tallies and raised the $2.44 million through 55,567 donations between September and December.

O’Rourke has sworn off the help of political action committees. According to the campaign, more than 70 percent of the last quarter’s donations came from Texas, and none of the funds came from loans.

"The intensity of support and breadth of that support is really encouraging," O'Rourke said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. "Money is not the most important thing, but it is important, and it will be critical to our chances in the upcoming primary in March and the election."

The outgoing congressman faces a nominal early test in the March 6 primary. Then, O’Rourke faces Democratic challengers Sema Hernandez, a self-described “progressive Berniecrat” from Houston, and Edward Kimbrough, who according to his website is a retired U.S. Postal Service employee from the Houston area. Federal campaign finance reports are not yet available for either candidate.

Though O’Rourke is considered the likely victor in the primary, he said: “You just can’t take anything for granted.”

Political observers have kept a close eye on both Cruz and O’Rourke’s coffers after the Democrat earned more than $2.1 million in the first three months of his campaign. He outraised Cruz, who posted $1.6 million that quarter, though the senator wasn’t in campaign mode.

Cruz outraised O’Rourke the following quarter in 2017, bringing in $2 million to O’Rourke’s $1.7 million.

The Cruz campaign has consistently had far more cash on hand than O'Rourke. It's latest $7.3 million is up from $5.7 million in September, according to federal filings. At that time, O'Rourke had just $2.9 million.

The odds are against O’Rourke in a deeply red state which hasn’t seen a Democratic senator since 1993. Cruz is heavily funded and has near universal name recognition.

Call O’Rourke, a former punk rocker turned congressman, optimistic.

“The premise of our campaign is that going to people that I want to serve and represent, and listening to them in their communities across the state is the right way to run a campaign and is perhaps the only way to win,” he said. “That will be more powerful than any amount of money or slickly-produced TV ads or any of that conventional campaign playbook tactics that we’ve seen forever now.”

O’Rourke has criticized Cruz and other lawmakers for receiving financial backing from mega-donors and super PACs, and pledged to make campaign finance reform his mission.

The issue is “bringing people out to our town halls” because “they know the system is rigged,” he said, invoking a phrase coined by then-candidate Donald Trump. “They know that right now, it’s corporate money that purchases access to members of Congress and purchases the outcome of legislation that will improve fortunes of corporations at the expense of people.”

Team Cruz has so far largely ignored O’Rourke, though national Republicans have taken notice.

In recent days, the National Republican Senate Committee — the Senate’s campaign arm — has blasted O’Rourke for participating in a Houston Democratic fundraiser on Saturday with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The House passed an $81 billion disaster aid measure last December, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to take it up at the time. Senate Republicans say it’s Schumer’s fault for withholding the support Republicans need to pass the measure now.

"O'Rourke's blind loyalty to Washington Democrats like Schumer, who has been stalling disaster aid to Houston, shows that he will always put partisanship ahead of doing what’s best for Texas," Katie Martin, spokeswoman for the NRSC, said in a statement late last week.

Asked about the criticism, O’Rourke said he had long ago been asked to attend the fundraising by Houston attorney Nomi Husain, and was scheduled to be in the area for campaign town halls.

“I honored that commitment,” he said.