Colin Allred, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, raises $4.8 million in fourth quarter of 2023

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Colin Allred, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, raised $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to his campaign.

The Dallas congressman entered the new year with $10 million cash on hand, according to figures first shared Wednesday with The Texas Tribune.

Allred is among several Democrats vying to challenge U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is running for a third term, in the March primary. None of the others has announced their fourth-quarter figures ahead of an end-of-month reporting deadline, though Allred has been the fundraising leader by a wide margin so far.

The other primary candidates include state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, state Rep. Carl Sherman of DeSoto and Mark Gonzalez, the former Nueces County district attorney.

Cruz announced last week he collected $5.5 million in the fourth quarter, though it is not an apples-to-apples comparison with Allred’s fundraising because Cruz counts money raised across three political committees.

Allred’s campaign said his latest haul brought his total number of donors beyond 200,000. His average donation size in the fourth quarter was $31.62, and 94% of donations were under $100.

Allred has largely ignored his primary opponents and tried to keep the focus on Cruz, a strategy reflected in his campaign’s statement on its fundraising. Campaign manager Paige Hutchinson said the campaign “could not be more grateful to the hundreds of thousands of grassroots donors who know Colin Allred is the candidate to beat Ted Cruz and get to work for Texans on day one.”

Allred’s $4.8 million in the fourth quarter represents a small increase over his third quarter, when he took in $4.7 million. That was far ahead of the third-quarter fundraising by his next closest primary rival, Gutierrez, who gathered $632,000.

Allred has also stayed ahead of Cruz when it comes to fundraising into their official campaign accounts. Cruz raised $3.1 million into his campaign account in the third quarter, two-thirds of Allred’s haul for the period.

The $5.5 million in fundraising that Cruz announced last week — first reported Thursday by Fox News — was raised across three separate accounts. Those accounts ended the fourth quarter with over $7.3 million cash on hand, his campaign said.

The three accounts include Ted Cruz for Senate, his campaign committee; Ted Cruz Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee; and Jobs, Freedom & Security PAC, a leadership political action committee. Leadership PACs are groups that prominent politicians often use to raise money to support other candidates, and they cannot spend the funds directly on their own campaign efforts.

The candidates have until Jan. 31 to disclose their full fourth-quarter finances to the Federal Election Commission.