AUGUSTA — U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin has raised more than $700,000 to support his re-election bid.

Poliquin’s staff said Monday that the Republican’s fundraising totals for the first three months of the year beats the freshman first-quarter record set two years ago by Democratic Florida Rep. Patrick Murphy.

Poliquin faces another challenge from Democrat Emily Cain in 2016. The former state senator announced in March that she would run again, just four months after Poliquin defeated her by about 5 percentage points in November.

Poliquin said in a statement that he’s grateful for the strong support while he works on issues important to families in the 2nd District.

The congressman’s staff says his fundraising report will be filed Wednesday and will show that he has more than $665,000 cash on hand.