It's not just Beto.
Newly filed campaign finance reports show that money flooded into Democratic congressional campaigns all across the state over the last three months.
Along with Democrat Beto O'Rourke's blockbuster $38 million haul in his bid against Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, no fewer than eight other Texas Democrats outraised their GOP rivals in their bids for Republican-held U.S. House seats. These numbers are so daunting that even GOP House incumbents who have stepped up their game this cycle, particularly U.S. Reps. Pete Sessions of Dallas and Will Hurd of Helotes, found themselves trailing far behind their Democratic rivals.
Looking back to the 2016 cycle, U.S. House candidates who raised more than $400,000 a quarter was considered strong fundraisers. This time around, several Texas Congressional candidates had multi-million dollar quarters.
To give a sense on how much things have changed, consider the state's only competitive federal campaign in 2016, Texas' 23rd Congressional District held by Hurd. The Democratic challenger that year, former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego, raised less money through the entire two-year cycle than three current Democratic challengers – attorneys Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher and retired Air Force intelligence officer Gina Ortiz Jones – raised in this quarter alone.
The latest numbers are noteworthy enough that GOP sources tell the Tribune that the Democratic numbers lit a fire under some of the state's most politically active Republican billionaires and millionaires and, they are now, finally, fully engaged in protecting their team in the midterms. Early voting begins on Monday.
Here is a look at what the candidates have raised in the third quarter and over the total 2017-18 cycle in all 36 of Texas’ U.S. House districts.
Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.
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