Hegar draws donors for final Senate push

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate MJ Hegar reported Thursday that her campaign raised $638,000 in the first six weeks of the year and had $850,000 in cash on hand headed into the final stretch before the March 3 primary.

Hegar, leading the polls in a 12-candidate field, has been far and away the top fundraiser among the Democrats, collecting more than $3.8 million as of Feb. 12.

“We have tapped into the energy and excitement in Texas to build a winning grassroots campaign that is raising millions of dollars from tens of thousands of individuals,” Hegar said in a statement. “Our fundraising has enabled us to build out the strongest operation and put us in the best position to meet the demands of a Texas-sized winning Senate race.”

As the primary approaches, and with early voting underway, Hegar’s campaign is on the airwaves in Austin, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. The campaign, which is not accepting corporate PAC money, reported most of its donations have been from Texas.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is facing four little-known rivals in the Republican primary in his bid for a fourth term, reported raising $1.2 million between Jan. 1 and Feb. 12, spending $1.3 million and having $12 million in the bank. That’s a huge head start against any Democrat, including Hegar, who will have to replenish her war chest after March 3 and, unless the polls are entirely misbegotten, will almost certainly be headed to a May 26 runoff.

The most recent University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, released Monday, had Hegar at 22% with Austin activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, her closest rival, at 9%, and a big chunk of the electorate still up for grabs.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, announced his endorsement of Tzintzún Ramirez.