AUSTIN—Republican Sen. John Cornyn reported Tuesday he has nearly $9.4 million in the bank for his re-election campaign, about 10 times what Democratic challenger Rick Noriega has in campaign cash.

The Senate candidates had to file their quarterly campaign finance reports by the end of Tuesday. Cornyn’s campaign said it raised $1.64 million in the three-month period that ended June 30; Noriega’s reported raising $960,169 in the quarter.

Cornyn reported that $414,265 of his total raised came from political action committees, which represent businesses and trade groups. Noriega had $44,000 in PAC contributions. Among Cornyn’s donors were energy industry PACs, like Duke Energy Corp., Chesapeake Energy Corp., Cheniere Energy Inc., Marathon Oil Co. and COALPAC, a committee of the National Mining Association.

Both candidates have made high gas prices a campaign issue. Cornyn says he supports oil exploration in Alaska and offshore drilling in the U.S. along with the use of clean coal, nuclear and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

Noriega has emphasized the use of renewable energy.

Each candidate received contributions from the Border Health PAC. One of Noriega’s notable political action committee donors was the international law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski. He also accumulated a large percentage of his donations from online fundraising through the Democratic Web site ActBlue.com.

While Cornyn had $9.4 million in cash on hand at the end of the three-month period, Noriega’s camp said it had only $915,504. That’s far less that what’s typically needed for a successful U.S. Senate race in Texas.

Cornyn, a first-term senator, and Noriega, a state legislator from Houston, will need money for television advertising throughout the huge state before November.

“In a state like this you don’t have a choice. You need to communicate your message in many different regions with a wide variety of people,” said Cornyn spokesman Kevin McLaughlin.

It costs at least $1 million a week to blanket Texas TV airwaves with ads. McLaughlin said Cornyn’s campaign believes it will have to spend about $1.7 million per week to saturate all television markets.

Noriega’s spokeswoman, Holly Shulman, said Noriega has been taping video segments for the Internet. She wouldn’t disclose any specifics about television advertising plans.

“These are strategic decisions that we’re going to make to put our resources to the best use,” she said.

The Cornyn and Noriega campaigns aren’t saying when TV commercials will begin in earnest this year, though they usually roll out around Labor Day. Cornyn already has been taping some campaign ads around the state.

The Noriega campaign has acknowledged it needs about $10 million to run a winning campaign, but Shulman said Tuesday it’s not necessary to have the same amount as Cornyn. To date, Noriega’s camp has collected $2.6 million, reports show.

“We’re going to run an aggressive statewide campaign,” Shulman said “We’re going to continue to build our momentum.”

In 2002, Cornyn spent about $9.8 million to get elected. His opponent, Democrat Ron Kirk, spent about $9 million.