NASHVILLE (AP) - Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has raised nearly $838,000 in the third quarter for his re-election bid.

Alexander, who faces a tea party-backed challenge from state Rep. Joe Carr for next year's GOP nomination, has raised $3.9 million since the beginning of the year, and had $2.8 million on hand at the end of the quarter.

Carr announced in August that he was abandoning his bid for Congress to instead challenge Alexander. The Murfreesboro Republican's campaign did not respond to requests for the challenger's fundraising totals. The deadline for filing quarterly campaign finance reports was Tuesday.

Carr has said that he expects it will take more than $5 million to defeat Alexander, including independent expenditures.