Texas Senate Candidate Beto O'Rourke Breaks Fundraising Record The Democrat may be trailing Ted Cruz in the polls, but his effort is raising an br unprecedented amount of money. On Friday, O'Rourke's campaign announced a record-smashing third quarter fundraising br haul of $38.1 million. It's the most ever raised in a quarter by a br U.S. Senate campaign. The campaign, which has rejected PAC money, said the $38.1 million was "powered by 802,836 individual contributions." No Democrat has won statewide office in Texasbr since 1994. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found Cruz leading O'Rourke by 9 points, 54 to 45.