Updated at 4 p.m.: Revised to include details of O'Rourke's reliance on donors using ActBlue.

WASHINGTON -- The cost of a U.S. Senate seat from Texas has never been higher, and Rep. Beto O'Rourke's insurgent bid to topple Sen. Ted Cruz has now attracted $70 million as the El Paso Democrat keeps setting new national records.

Three-quarters of that, a staggering $52.8 million, came in via ActBlue, an online portal that has allowed O'Rourke and other Democrats to crowdsource the otherwise arduous task of fundraising.

With Cruz raising $29.7 million since early 2017, when O'Rourke joined the race, the combined total has now crossed $100 million, a first for any U.S. Senate race in history.

The Democrat's latest campaign report, filed early Friday with the Federal Election Commission, showed he brought in nearly $8.5 million from Oct. 1 to Oct. 17, padding a tally that was already the most for any Senate candidate anywhere, ever.

Cruz's tally since the start of the election cycle, after his election in November 2012, is $40.5 million.

O'Rourke's campaign spent $21 million in the first 17 days of this month and still had $10.3 million in the bank. Cruz spent $9.7 million and entered the final stretch with $6.7 million.

O'Rourke boasts that he only takes donations from individuals, shunning donations from political action committees.

"This is the most expensive Senate race in the country," Cruz said during a campaign stop Friday in Nacogdoches. "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."

"That being said, elections are about a lot more than just dollars and cents," he said. "This race presents as clear a contrast as any race in the country."

In the last six months, O'Rourke received nearly 1.2 million separate donations.

ActBlue has turbocharged the effort, allowing O'Rourke supporters in Texas and around the country to pour modest sums into the race, and set up recurring donations.

ActBlue announced Friday that 4.7 million donors who used the portal since January 2017 have sent $1.5 billion to Democratic candidates and groups nationwide, in 37 million transactions averaging about $40 each.

"Americans across the country are chipping in whatever they can to the races and groups they care about - whether it's for their next school board member or governor," said ActBlue executive director Erin Hill. "Small-dollar donors are leading the blue wave and making sure Democrats have the funds they need to win on Nov. 6."

Cruz and other Republicans accuse California liberals and other out-of-state Democrats of trying to buy the Texas seat.

But a Dallas Morning News analysis of itemized donations shows that a bigger share of Cruz donations comes from out-of-state: 43 percent, compared with 38 percent for O'Rourke. Cruz's out-of-state take is far higher when PAC donations are taken into account.

Tens of millions flooding into Texas from liberals all over the country.... It’s a good thing Hollywood leftists can’t vote in Texas! #DontCaliforniaMyTexas https://t.co/dITfCckWZ1 — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 26, 2018

O'Rourke does get a bigger share of his individual donations from California: 12 percent, compared with 6 percent for Cruz.

That hasn't stopped Cruz and allies from asserting that West Coast liberals are meddling in Texas.

"You got all these Californians throwing money at Beto O'Rourke trying to win a Senate race," Gov. Greg Abbott asserted at the Houston rally Monday night with President Donald Trump and Cruz. "All of the gold that is pouring in from California cannot buy Beto a U.S. Senate seat."

"A majority of our fundraising continues to come from Texas. Unlike Senator Cruz, and nearly every other Senate candidate across the country, Beto isn't accepting a dime from PACs so it's clear that nobody is buying this race on our side of things," said O'Rourke campaign spokesman Chris Evans.

The tallies for Cruz and O'Rourke's campaigns only include donations directly to them. A slew of outside groups that support one side or the other also have been pouring money into the contest.

Texas Democrats haven't won a statewide contest since 1994, but a number of factors have made O'Rourke a magnet for donations, from Texas and beyond. He's energized the party like no other Democratic candidate in Texas in decades, though his unapologetically progressive stances also stir enthusiasm on the other side.

For Democrats across the country, Cruz is a bête noire whom they would dearly love to toss from office. He's maintained a modest single-digit lead in recent polls. A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released Friday shows a 6-point lead for Cruz -- a nail-biter compared to Gov. Greg Abbott's and those of other Texas Republicans.

Cruz cast the O'Rourke money tide as sloshing up against a mighty barrier: his steadfastness and Texas' GOP leanings.

"Six years ago, I promised the people of Texas that I would fight every day for lower taxes, less regulations, more jobs, that I'd fight to secure the border and to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights," Cruz said in East Texas. "I've kept those promises. Those are the values of the people of Texas."

"Congressman O'Rourke's record of higher taxes, higher regulations, aggressive gun control, open borders -- that's an agenda that's out of step with the people of Texas. And at the end of the day, I think that's what's going to decide this race."

Computational journalist Stephanie Lamm and Washington correspondent Tom Benning contributed to this report. Todd J. Gillman reported from Washington. Robert T. Garrett reported from East Texas.