After raising $4.5 million in third quarter, O'Rourke says he needs to "break through" now more than

After raising $4.5 million in third quarter, O'Rourke says he needs to "break through" now more than ever

by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke raised $4.5 million in the third quarter, his campaign announced Friday as he acknowledged it was more urgent than ever to "break through" in the still-crowded primary.

The third-quarter total is an improvement over the $3.6 million that the former El Paso congressman took in during the previous quarter, and it came despite a halt to fundraising for roughly two weeks in August after the deadly El Paso shooting. Still, the total puts him behind a majority of primary rivals who have released their third-quarter figures so far, including two leading candidates who each raised around $25 million.

After announcing his third-quarter figures, O'Rourke gathered his staff in El Paso for a livestreamed meeting Thursday evening where he discussed the state of his campaign, which has been mired in the low single digits in polls for months.

"We have a path to the nomination — and through that, a path to the presidency — but at this moment we've got to break through," O'Rourke said. "So I need everyone's help, doing everything that they can ... to make sure that you make this commitment now. There is no later moment to do it. It must happen now if we're going to make the most of this moment, of the momentum that we have, of this wonderful trajectory that we're on."

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/10/11/beto-orourke-raises-45-million-third-quarter-2019/