Ted Cruz fundraising in early 2018 lags behind Beto O'Rourke's

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz takes the stage as he officially kicks off his campaign for the U.S. Senate pitching the slogan Texas Tough at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, TX on Monday, April 2, 2018. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz takes the stage as he officially kicks off his campaign for the U.S. Senate pitching the slogan Texas Tough at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, TX on Monday, April 2, 2018. Photo: Tim Warner, Freelance / For The Chronicle Photo: Tim Warner, Freelance / For The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Ted Cruz fundraising in early 2018 lags behind Beto O'Rourke's 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz raised less than half the amount of money that his Democratic rival Beto O'Rourke collected in the first three months of 2018, according to the Republican's campaign.

Cruz's staff announced he had raised $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2018. O'Rourke announced earlier this month he had topped $6.7 million over the same period of time.

In total, Cruz's campaign said he has raised nearly $20 million for his re-election campaign. O'Rourke is expected to report more than $15 million raised overall.

Cruz's total is already well more than what he spent in his first campaign for the Senate in 2012. In that race, Cruz spent just over $14 million.

Cruz, 47, is favored in the race, but O'Rourke's fundraising has been record setting and forced some national political watchers to reassess the race. O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, has raised more money for his campaign than any Democrat has ever raised for a U.S. Senate race in Texas.

"Sen. Cruz is grateful to the millions of grassroots Texans who continue to display their confidence in his leadership of our state," said Cruz's senior communications adviser Catherine Frazier.

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O'Rourke's campaign was quick to seize on the numbers and pointed out that O'Rourke has out-performed Cruz financially despite getting no help from political action committees. O'Rourke has pledged not to take money from PACs as a symbol of opposition to special interests having too much influence in politics.

"If you listen to my fellow Texans across 254 counties, they're all about getting big things done for our state, and we're building on their momentum each day without any corporate help, any special interests, any PACs," O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke, 45, has been a member of Congress since winning a U.S. House seat representing El Paso in 2012.

The combined $35 million for the race already between the two candidates already makes the contest one of the most expensive in the nation.

Jeremy Wallace writes about state politics and government for the Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter at @JeremySWallace.