Castro says he’ll drop out unless he raises $800,000 by end of month

Julián Castro’s presidential campaign said Monday that the former Housing Secretary would be “forced to drop out of the race” unless supporters donate $800,000 to his campaign by the end of October.

The former San Antonio mayor has been mired far behind leading candidates in the polls and has struggled to raise money. Recent FEC filings show Castro raising over just $3.4 million during the third fundraising quarter, and only having a little over $600,000 in the bank.

The Castro campaign has threatened to fold up shop before. “If I don’t make the next debate stage, it will be the end of my campaign,” the campaign wrote in a late September email to supporters signed by Castro. Campaign manager Maya Rupert later downplayed the threat, telling CBS News that it was merely “unfortunately hyperbolic writing in a fundraising email.”

On Monday, however, Rupert said that the campaign’s latest plea was genuine. “Unfortunately, we do not see a path to victory that doesn’t include making the November debate stage—and without a significant uptick in our fundraising, we cannot make that debate,” she said.

Castro hinted at his polling and financial struggles at a campaign stop in Las Vegas on Saturday, where he begged supporters to do all that they can to get him on the debate stage in November.

“I need your help it’s over the next three weeks to talk to your family members to your friends and spread the word,” Castro said.

Castro isn’t the first candidate to say he’ll drop out unless supporters pony up more cash. In September, Senator Cory Booker told supporters he needed to raise $1.7 million dollars over a span of ten days to stay in the race. The gambit worked, with Booker raising more than his target sum in what his campaign said was his strongest 10-day fundraising stretch since entering the race.