Texas Democratic Senator Wendy Davis is seeking campaign funds outside the state to support her bid for governor, thus far raising over four times more out-of-state than her opponent, Republican Greg Abbott.

“Texas is a huge state,” said national Democratic fundraiser Kristin Oblander. “The budgets for these races are immense, and the pressure for fundraising is huge.”

Davis is smartly organizing campaign fundraisers in more liberal areas such as Hollywood and New York City where her platforms are far more likely to receive support and media attention. However, Davis has made a point to deflect questions about her out-of-state fundraising. “The vast majority of the donations have come from within our state. This is a race about Texas,” said Davis.

Wendy Davis going beyond Texas for campaign bucks http://t.co/7B4KLXsXwU pic.twitter.com/ziVlVC5QJD

— WTOP (@WTOP) June 16, 2014

Davis has received donations towards her campaign from every state (including Texas), out-of-state donations making up roughly 25 percent of her campaign funds. Abbott only sees 10 percent of aid coming from outside Texas, mostly receiving financial aid from traditionally conservative supporters in-state.

“Republicans have such a strong base here in Texas,” said top Republican fundraiser Roy Bailey. “If you’re looking out of state, it just tells you there’s something fundamentally wrong with where you’re running.” That, or rich old white guys with deep pockets would like to continue being rich old white guys and thus donate to the other rich old white guy on the roster.

Davis, who famously filibustered for over 12 hours last June to prevent the passing of a highly restrictive abortion bill, unsurprisingly has to seek donations elsewhere as her backers in Texas aren’t necessarily going to have deep pockets (think single moms, students, and minority voters). But that doesn’t mean she lacks support in-state. While she is currently polling behind Abbott, his seven percent lead is less than half of Rick Perry’s lead over his democratic opponent in the 2002 Texas gubernatorial election.

I hope to see you in Austin on June 25, the one-year anniversary of the people's filibuster: http://t.co/CugPqsc5r3 pic.twitter.com/b7vbi9mBhI

— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 14, 2014

Davis is known for her strong stance on education (which Texas could really, really use help with), a woman’s right to make decisions about her own bod, supporting the LGBT community, and strengthening the job market. Basically, decent human being stuff. Naturally, this doesn’t go over well with the conservative crowd.

While some are taking the news that Davis abruptly changed campaign managers mid-campaign as a sign of doom, the fact that she has raised over $16 million (compared to Abbott’s $17 million) as a liberal (lady!) candidate in Texas is a hopeful sign. Who cares if she had to hit up Steven Spielberg to do it.

Image via YouTube