Republican Matt Doheny spent nearly $650,000 in October, meaning that for the first time in the election cycle, he has spent more money than his Nov. 6 opponent, Democratic Rep. Bill Owens.

Mr. Owens is not far behind. According to Federal Elections Commission reports, Mr. Owens spent $450,000 in October, bringing his total to $1.5 million. Mr. Doheny has spent a total of $1.6 million in a much shorter timeframe — he only began actively campaigning and raising funds at the end of 2011. Mr. Owens has almost four times as much money in the campaign kitty ($412,761 to $113,557), while Mr. Doheny could again lend money to his campaign, so the final figure could be a photo finish.

Add outside spending into the race and supporters of Mr. Doheny have vastly outspent Mr. Owens. Independent expenditure groups have poured more than $2.2 million into the district to oppose Mr. Owens, according to OpenSecrets. One group — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — has spent $617,300 to oppose Mr. Doheny.

In October, Mr. Owens raised $52,000 from individuals and $30,350 from political action committees and took in $9,950 in transfers from other committees.

PAC donors included agriculture interests, the New York ChoicePac and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Mr. Doheny raised $37,460 from individuals, $6,800 from political action committees and wrote his campaign a $450,000 check. At this point, Mr. Doheny's campaign is almost exclusively self-funding.

Donors to Mr. Doheny included Friends of Joanie Mahoney, the campaign account for the Onondaga County executive, and a political action committee for a homebuilders' association.

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