We all know money alone doesn’t win Senate seats. But it does help.

And if we’re to retire Ted Cruz in 2018, the Democratic challenger will need a big cash cushion. The Democratic primary is in March, but Rep Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) appears to be the leading candidate and is regularly out-raising Cruz.

U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, easily outraised U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz over the last three months in his campaign to unseat the Texas Republican, raking in over $2.4 million to Cruz's $1.9 million. Yet Cruz maintains a big cash-on-hand advantage, closing out 2017 with $7.3 million in the bank, his campaign said late Sunday. O'Rourke, who revealed his haul a short time earlier, has $4.6 million to spend, according to his campaign. — www.texastribune.org/...

x We just outraised Ted Cruz by half a million dollars thanks to you. All people, no PACs. https://t.co/SEjwRShKnh — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) January 29, 2018

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. [...] 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. — www.dallasnews.com/...

Apart from the huge fundraising haul, it’s important that Rep. O’Rourke’s financial support is coming from a large number of people, with the average donation around $44. That suggests folks are invested in his campaign, and if these early donors volunteer, he’s got a shot. Rep. O’Rourke is within striking distance, down by 8 points in a PPP poll, though Republican pollsters claim the gap is 18 points. The really encouraging news in the poll is that Cruz has a negative favorability rating in Texas, just like Trump:

In the first poll, both Cruz and President Trump have negative favorability ratings in Texas. Thirty-eight percent view Cruz favorably, while 49 percent view him unfavorably. For Trump, who won Texas by 9 points in the 2016 election, 45 percent view him favorably, compared to 48 percent who view him unfavorably — thehill.com/...

Rep. O’Rourke has a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, and a campaign website where you can volunteer and donate.

And if any of you need another reason to ensure Ted Cruz loses, remember he supported accused child-molester Roy Moore:

x FOX NEWS HOST TO @tedcruz: You cool working with alleged child molester Roy Moore if he's elected?



CRUZ: Sure, no problem, that's up to the voters.



FOX NEWS HOST: And what about alleged groper Al Franken?



CRUZ: Now that's a very serious problem. I'm extremely concerned. pic.twitter.com/1QzMq0Hud5 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 30, 2017

— @subirgrewal