Beto O’Rourke, the leading Democratic candidate in the upcoming Governor elections in Texas, said that his campaign raised over $2 million within 24 hours of kickoff, according to media reports. The 49-year-old politician will be going against incumbent and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

The announcement on Wednesday reflects O’Rourke’s ability to gather funds for electoral purposes even after two failed runs, one for Presidency and the other for United States Senate.

Without giving away too many details, O’Rourke’s campaign officials said that the funds came from over 20,000 donations– a large number of which were Texas residents– that were collected in the first 24 hours, according to reports from Associated Press.

However, O’Rourke’s campaign is reportedly way behind his main competition, Texas Governor and member of the Republican party Greg Abbott, who announced earlier this year that he has already accumulated at least $55 million in electoral funds.

According to reports from Associated Press, Abbott is known to be one of the most successful American politicians in terms of fundraising. He will be running for a third term for the position of Governor.

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O’Rourke raised $80 million in his 2018 Senate campaign — at the time a record for that office — but his donors will not be confined this time by federal campaign finance laws, since Texas has no limits on individual contributions, according to reports from Associated Press.

“It is not going to be easy. But it is possible”, O’Rourke said in an interview with Associated Press ahead of announcing his candidacy. He added, “I do believe, very strongly, from listening to people in this state that they are very unhappy with the direction that Greg Abbott has taken Texas.”

O’Rourke is likely to kick off his gubernatorial campaign with a disadvantage. According to reports from Politico, citing a joint poll by the University of Texas and The Texas Tribune, Abbott had secured a 9% advantage already.   

(With AP inputs)