AUSTIN, Texas — Democrat Beto O’Rourke has done what no Greg Abbott opponent has ever done — raised more than the veteran GOP officeholder in two consecutive reporting periods.
Still, O’Rourke only narrowly outpaced Abbott in contributions, $25.18 million to “nearly $25 million,” according to news releases the gubernatorial rivals issued Tuesday.
The bragging competition via news release came just hours before they had to disclose their campaigns’ contributions and expenditures between July 1 and Sept. 29.
Abbott’s campaign stressed that since the start of 2021, the two-term Republican incumbent “has raised nearly $95 million from more than 418,000 donations.” Since O’Rourke announced his gubernatorial bid last November, he’s raised $66.1 million.
The former El Paso congressman, meanwhile, emphasized how just in the latest period, he received nearly 475,000 contributions. Abbott said he collected donations from “nearly 45,000 contributors” — less than 1/10th as many — in the nearly three-month period.
As online filers, O’Rourke and Abbott’s “30-day prior” fundraising reports were due at the Texas Ethics Commission by midnight Tuesday.
Neither campaign released how much cash on hand it had as of Sept. 29, though Abbott entered the period with $45.7 million in the bank and $20 million worth of ads already prepaid.
O’Rourke stressed the novelty of anyone beating Abbott at his political strength — fundraising — twice in a row. O’Rourke also touted how he has a lot more small donors than Abbott, with the average contribution being $53 in the latest period.
“We’re receiving support from those in every part of this state who are ready to hold Greg Abbott fully accountable for eight years of failing all of us as he continues to put his extreme agenda over the people of Texas,” O’Rourke said in a written statement.
Gardner Pate, Abbott's campaign chairman, stressed how for the governor, “81% of all the money came from within Texas.” Over the entire 2022 cycle, Abbott’s received contributions from all 254 counties in Texas, Pate said in a written statement.
“Governor Abbott’s campaign is proud that the vast majority of his support comes from within Texas and not from out of state liberals like George Soros or from shady dark money groups hiding their donors from public disclosure,” Pate said.
He was referring to Coulda Been Worse LLC, whose donors are unknown. Since Aug. 1, the group opposing Abbott has spent $15.3 million dollars on advertising, according to AdImpact.com, an ad-tracking service. In the same period, Abbott has spent $38 million on ads; and O’Rourke, $20.2 million. Coulda Been Worse has provided rough parity for O’Rourke’s viewpoint in the ad wars as the Nov. 8 election approached.
“We’re confident we will have the resources we need to ensure all Texans know Governor Abbott’s strong record on job creation, supporting our police and securing the border,” which contrasts with O’Rourke’s “extreme liberal policies,” Pate said.
As in July, the O’Rourke campaign said the top occupation of his donors was teachers.
“More than 98% of the 474,876 contributions came in online,” the Democrat’s release said. O’Rourke spokesman Chris Evans said he didn’t have the percentage of contributions in the latest period that came from within the state.
“We are going to defeat (Abbott) and ensure Texas finally leads in great jobs, world class schools, the ability to see a doctor, keeping our kids safe and restoring a woman’s freedom to make her own decisions about her own body,” O’Rourke said.
During Abbott’s successful bid to succeed former GOP Gov. Rick Perry in 2014, his opponent was former Fort Worth Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis. In late 2013, Davis, coming off her abortion filibuster, bested Abbott in receipts, $12.2 million to $11.5 million. From then on, Abbott outraised her and went on to win the general election by 20 percentage points.
O’Rourke, despite stiff headwinds for his party in the 2022 midterm elections, is mounting a far more menacing challenge to Abbott than the former jurist and state attorney general ever has faced.
In late winter, spring and early summer, he skunked Abbott, raising $27.63 million to the sitting governor’s $24.9 million. The amount O’Rourke took in was nearly 15 times what former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez collected in the entire 2018 cycle ($1.86 million). Abbott defeated Valdez that year by 13 percentage points.
Cumulatively, O’Rourke has raised $67.83 million for his bid for governor, far outstripping the nearly $40 million that Davis collected for the 2014 race.
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