WASHINGTON — Julián Castro seems to be moving up in the 2020 Democratic presidential competition, judging by campaign reports and a Washington Post/ABC poll on Wednesday showing him leapfrogging over fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke in early standings.

Surveys since last week’s first 2020 Democratic candidate debates have shown no dramatic overall shifts in standings. And Castro has yet to display an across-the-board surge after a performance that won positive reviews both on substance and style.

But Castro said this week that he has more than 115,000 donors on his way to reaching the Democratic National Committee’s 130,000-donor requirement for appearing in debates in the fall, a threshold likely to effectively end some campaigns.

The Post/ABC survey showed the same top tier of candidates, led by Joe Biden, as in previous polling.

Castro, who has usually polled at 1 percent in surveys, was the choice of 4 percent — putting him in the top six — when respondents were given a list of candidates to pick from. Biden is at 29 percent; Sen. Bernie Sanders at 23; Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 11; Sen. Kamala Harris at 11; and Castro and Mayor Pete Buttigieg each with 4.

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O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman who has acknowledged a need to improve on the debate stage, was the choice of 2 percent.

When respondents were asked to rate debate performances by naming four candidates who stood out, Castro ranked among the top six of the 20 contestants over two nights.

The poll had a modest sample of 460 adult Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents; it has a potential error rate of 5.5 percent.

Castro’s campaign is making the most of the uptick, including rhetorically.

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“This is one of the most historic surges of support we’ve ever seen,” reads the opening in a fundraising email Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Castro jetted to New York to appear on MSNBC with Rachel Maddow. Like other interviewers recently, she wanted to hear more about Castro’s proposal to decriminalize border crossings, which became a central focus of the immigration topic on both nights in the debate.

“What I’m betting is that there are enough people out there who know that we can do this a better way,” Castro said.

“If he (President Donald Trump) is going to proceed with a dark heart of cruelty, then I want to proceed with a heart of compassion and common sense.”