Updated at 8:30 a.m. on Friday: Revised to include fundraising totals for Chris Bell.

WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn raised nearly $1.2 million in the first six weeks of this year, leaving the incumbent Republican with more than $12 million in the bank as he heads into his lightly contested GOP primary in early March.

The senator has brought in more than $11.6 million since the start of last year — a massive haul even by Texas standards.

Cornyn, who spent $1.3 million so far this year, has been bracing for perhaps his toughest reelection campaign ever. Several Democrats — some of them able fundraisers in their own right — are competing in the upcoming primary to take him on in the general election.

MJ Hegar, the most prolific fundraiser in the Democratic field, on Thursday said she brought in $638,000 so far this year, bringing her overall bounty to date to more than $3.8 million. She held $850,000 cash on hand ahead of the March primary, her campaign said.

“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,” Hegar, an Air Force veteran, said in a news release.

Democratic senate candidate MJ Hegar has been the top fundraiser to date among the candidates vying to take on Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the general election. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) (Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

The latest fundraising stats came as fresh campaign finance reports were being filed with the Federal Election Commission.

While such financial data is typically released on a quarterly basis, all federal candidates in Texas had to report their early-year tallies by the end of Thursday to provide the public one final look at their finances ahead of the March 3 primary.

State Sen. Royce West of Dallas, another Democratic Senate contender, posted a haul of more than $178,000 so far this year. His overall tally, which includes money he loaned to the campaign, totals more than $1.1 million. He has nearly $308,000 cash on hand.

Progressive activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez reported that she raised nearly $182,000 in the first six weeks of this year. That brought her total for the campaign to more than $988,000. She has more than $230,000 in reserves ahead of the March contest.

Former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards brought in nearly $128,000 in the first month and a half of the year. She’s raised more than $935,000 since launching her campaign and has $277,000 in the bank.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell had a relatively meager start to the year, raising nearly $55,000, including some money he loaned to his campaign. His overall campaign tally is now nearly $374,000, but he has only $12,000 cash on hand.

But all of the Democratic contenders are playing catch-up with Cornyn, who’s been preaching to Republicans that they must avoid complacency.

“We can’t take it for granted,” he said Thursday at an event in Austin. “And we know there’s going to be a huge turnout in the election, just like there was in 2018.”

The Republican’s haul so far even puts him ahead of the pace set last election by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who raised gobs of campaign cash in a record-shattering Senate battle against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso.

Hegar spokeswoman Amanda Sherman criticized Cornyn’s windfall, noting that he’s accepting donations from corporate political action committees.

"Unfortunately for Senator Cornyn, Texans are sick and tired of being sold out and have shown they are ready for a Senator who will fight for them, not special interests,” she said.

A Cornyn campaign spokesman didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Austin bureau chief Robert T. Garrett contributed to this report.