Sen. Ted Cruz will continue accepting campaign contributions from corporate executives even as he refuses donations from corporate political action committees, an adviser to the Texas Republican confirmed.
Cruz, a 2024 presidential contender, made headlines this week when he announced a self-imposed ban on accepting financial support from corporate PACs amid a falling out between Republicans and many longtime allies in the business community. But the senator is not cutting off contributions from the wealthy executives who run those corporations, keeping open a pipeline of campaign cash more lucrative than that offered by PACs.
“He’s still going to take personal money,” the Cruz adviser said Friday.
Corporate PACs, which donate to politicians with money collected from employees, are limited by federal law to donations of $5,000 per calendar year per federal candidate. Individual donors are permitted to contribute just $2,800 to a candidate per election cycle. But they are able to write far larger checks to politicians through joint fundraising committees, entities candidates such as Cruz often form with party committees, their personal leadership PAC, and even other candidates.
For instance, last cycle, Cruz formed a joint fundraising committee that raised over $2.5 million for more than two dozen Republicans running for the House and Senate from small donors but also wealthy GOP contributors who gave in large amounts that are among the senator’s supporters. Well-off donors who give personal money to Republicans have continued to do so this year, even as friction developed between the party and corporate America.
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For decades, Republicans have been aligned with big business because of a shared agenda. Both support lower taxes and lighter regulatory schemes, arguing those policies are better for jobs and economic growth. That relationship began fraying this year.
The conflict stems from the Jan. 6 ransacking of the United States Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. Some corporate PACs responded by temporarily halting contributions altogether. But others specifically began withholding donations from congressional Republicans who opposed certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory following steps prescribed by federal law. The rift widened after some major corporations came out in opposition to the new Georgia voting law.
Republicans on Capitol Hill, largely supportive, were offended by accusations that they were attempting to suppress the voting rights of black people. Now some, like Cruz, are suggesting GOP support for lower taxes and regulations on corporations might evaporate just as Biden and the Democrats are planning a massive reversal of the corporate tax cut Trump and the Republicans pushed through in late 2017.
“To America’s watch-me-woke-it-up CEOs I say: When the time comes that you need help with a tax break or a regulatory change, I hope the Democrats take your calls because we may not. Starting now, we won’t take your money either,” Cruz tweeted.
Does that mean Cruz no longer supports conservative fiscal policy? His adviser said the senator’s philosophy has not changed but that he would focus his energy on protecting small- and medium-sized businesses from the Biden tax and regulatory regime and worry less about its impact on big corporations.
“This summer, when the Democrats go to hike the corporate rate, I think you’re going to see a fight for the midsized and smaller guys so they don’t get screwed,” Cruz’s adviser said. “But I don’t you’re going to see him or the party lay down on the tracks to cut Amazon’s rate down.”
Does that mean Cruz could support a bill that raised taxes on corporations as long as it spared small- and medium-sized businesses? The senator’s adviser pointedly did not rule it out, saying: “Possibly. I don’t want to overpromise on something we haven’t seen.”
