Julián Castro raised $3.5 million in third quarter, but his cash on hand dipped to less than $700,000

Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro raised $3.5 million in the third quarter of this year, according to his filing with the Federal Election Commission.

The haul is a significant bump from the $2.8 million the Democratic underdog and former San Antonio mayor raised in the second fundraising quarter. Still, his total is paltry compared with that of some Democratic rivals; U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders raised $25.3 million in the third quarter, with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren not far behind. Former Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, raised $15.2 million.

Castro spent $3.9 million in the third quarter, meaning his cash on hand has shrunk from $1.1 million at the end of the second quarter to $672,333 at the end of the third.

Instead of blasting out its numbers to email subscribers, Castro’s campaign, along with those of a few other Democrats, quietly submitted his report just an hour or so before the midnight Oct. 15 deadline — immediately after the fourth Democratic debate in Ohio. According to Castro’s online filing, he spent nearly $4 million in the latest quarter.

Castro told supporters Saturday that the average contribution to his campaign in the third quarter was $18. Castro also said his campaign added over 60,000 new donors in the last quarter.

Despite the marked improvement from his previous fundraising hauls, Castro has struggled for much of the race to climb out of the bottom tier in polls, and his latest fundraising places him in the lower third of candidates — behind fellow Texan Beto O’Rourke, who revealed last week that that he raised $4.5 million in the third quarter.

Both Texans participated in the fourth primary debate Tuesday in Ohio, but they have yet to satisfy the requirements for the fifth debate, which is Nov. 20 in Georgia. Party rules say that to qualify for the debate, a candidate must have 165,000 unique donors and receive 3% in four national polls (up from 2% for the fall debates). Castro and O'Rourke have accrued the donors needed to make the stage, according to their campaigns. O’Rourke has one qualifying poll, while Castro has none.