Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords reports raising $490,000 in the first FEC reporting period of the year.

That's not quite as much as the $500,000 that Republican challenger Jonathan Paton collected, but Giffords has squirreled away a lot more than Paton over the last year. She's ending the reporting period with more than $1.95 million on hand.

Here's the release from Giffords:

Giffords for Congress today announced that it will show over $1.95 million on hand in the first quarter 2010 federal campaign finance report.

“The widespread enthusiasm for Gabrielle is a testament to her tireless work on behalf of her constituents,” said Giffords for Congress campaign chairman Michael McNulty. “Southern Arizonans sent her to Washington to fight for our men and women in uniform, more government transparency, an end to reckless deficit spending, more resources at the border and a clean energy future for our country. In this day and age, people want to know that their elected officials will fight for them. Gabrielle has earned that trust and will continue to work everyday to improve the lives of Southern Arizonans. “

Additional details from this report include:

• As of March 31, 2010 Giffords for Congress had over $1.95 million cash on hand.

• Between January 1 and March 31, 2010, Giffords for

Congress raised over $490,000.

• More than 2,440 individuals contributed to Giffords for Congress during the first quarter of 2010, bringing the total number of individual contributors to nearly 4,000 so far this cycle.

• The average individual contribution during this quarter was $127.

The full report will be filed with the Federal Election Commission next week.