Well, this is a shocking bit of news.

Cal Cunningham has announced that he raised $28.3 million in the third quarter.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 1, 2020

🚨JUST IN🚨: Our campaign raised $28.3M in Q3, without accepting contributions from corporate PACs.

Wow. Thank you to everyone who made this achievement possible. This people-powered team continues to blow me away.

Next stop: replacing Thom Tillis and flipping the Senate. https://t.co/U9XHuqdvFg
— Cal Cunningham (@CalforNC) October 1, 2020

Attorney, Army vet, and middle-of-the-road Democrat Cal Cunningham just announced his campaign raised a record $28.3 million in the last quarter. Those funds will go toward his battle to win Republican Senator Thom Tillis's seat in North Carolina, who is running his first reelection campaign since becoming a senator in 2015.

Cunningham set a record for the most $$$ raised in a single quarter by any North Carolina politician, reports The Hill. For a little context, when Washington Sen. Patty Murray ran against Dino Rossi for Senate in 2010, she raised around $12 million in a year.

More from The Hill:

Cunningham’s $28.3 million quarterly haul is nearly four times as much as the $7.4 million he raised in the second quarter. The massive fundraising sum likely puts Cunningham in a strong position heading into the crucial final month of his campaign.

His campaign said that more than 40,000 North Carolinians had given to his Senate bid over the past three months, with many of them contributing more than once. Ninety-six percent of donations were under $100, the campaign said.

This announcement comes right as Cunningham and Sen. Tillis face off in their third debate of this race, happening tonight at 7 pm-Raleigh time, 4 pm-Seattle time. The debate is available to Spectrum cable subscribers and streamable for non-subscribers if they sign up for a free month on Spectrum's app.

The latest polls have been good for Cunningham. He's been coming in between 5 and 12 points ahead of Tillis. Still, the race is expected to be close, even though Tillis is a weak incumbent. Like all Dems in swingable states, Cunningham needs to do well in the suburbs. Expect to see a lot more $$$ flowing into this battleground race in the coming weeks.

In case you haven't been paying attention to North Carolina cable TV, here's Cunningham's most recent ad: