10 Days Ago, the End Was Nigh for Castro. Then He Made Bank

On Oct. 21, former HUD Secretary and now Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro sent a dire-sounding email to supporters, declaring that if he couldn't raise $800,000 by month's end, he'd have to throw in the towel on his run for the Oval Office. On Friday, news from campaign manager Maya Rupert: Thanks to an 11th-hour push on Thursday to cover a final $20,000 gap, the campaign was able to blow past that $800,000 target. "We're not going anywhere," Rupert said in a statement, reports the Texas Tribune, which notes that Castro now has some funds to keep his campaign going and vie for a spot in the next two Democratic primary debates this month and next.

Per NBC News, Castro's campaign says that its overall haul for for October exceeded $1 million, from 50,000 donors, with Thursday being the biggest moneymaking day to date. "Time and time again this campaign has defied expectations with the support of an army of dedicated, grassroots supporters," Rupert said. Not that this latest rush of funds is any kind of guarantee that Castro will make the next debates, the first one set for Nov. 20: He's still stagnating in the low single digits in most polls, and to make the debate stage, he has to not only meet the DNC requirement of 165,000 unique donors (which he has) by Nov. 13, but also capture 3% in four discrete polls, which poses his biggest challenge. (More Julian Castro stories.)