WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Colin Allred continues to outpace Sen. Ted Cruz in the month before Election Day, bringing in more than $11.8 million in the first 16 days of the month. During the same time, Cruz has raised over $9.9 million.

Recent returns include the more than $1 million Allred brought in the day after the two candidates debated on October 15. In this election cycle so far, Allred has raised over $80 million. Cruz has now raised more than $86.7 million, including money he raised in the years after his 2018 run and before Allred entered the race.

With this latest harvest, Allred overshadowed U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 election campaign, which ended the election cycle with more than $70 million raised.

Allred has consistently outraised Cruz every quarter this year. But Cruz remains a formidable fundraiser — one of the most prolific among his Republican colleagues in the Senate and a top fundraiser for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Cruz also has several major players funding ads that benefit his re-election efforts. Truth and Courage PAC, a super PAC pushing for Cruz’s reelection, has spent more than $28 million since the start of 2023, including $11 million on television ads this year, according to tracking firm AdImpact. The pro-Republican Win It Back PAC has also spent more than $5 million on TV ads, and both the NRSC and Republican Party of Texas have each spent more than $2 million on television.

According to AdImpact, Allred’s campaign has spent more than $31 million on television advertising this cycle. According to AdImpact, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has invested another $10 million.

The Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC associated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced Thursday that it would invest $5 million in television advertising in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. It is the first major investment in television advertising by an outside pro-democracy group in the battle for the Senate.

The Senate Leadership Fund, the Republican counterpart to the Senate Majority PAC, has not announced any investments to help Cruz in the race.

Television ads have been a key element of Allred’s campaign, which aimed to address his low brand awareness outside his native Dallas.

Cruz expected an influx of fundraising for his challenger early in the cycle. After former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke smashed through fundraising records to come within 3 percentage points of defeating Cruz in 2018, Cruz signaled to Republican donors that no seat is safe, even in a state like Texas where the Republicans have controlled all the offices statewide. for a generation.

Cruz’s campaign has raised more than twice as much as in 2018.

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