Sen. Ted Cruz is imploring supporters to donate $1 million to his presidential campaign by Tuesday, saying in a recorded email appeal that positive fundraising results are important to shaping the media narrative of the 2016 contest.
The Texas Republican proved to be a surprisingly prodigious and effective fundraiser in the opening weeks of his White House bid. He raised $4 million online his first week and has told reporters that super PACs backing his candidacy have “banked” an eye-popping $37 million.
Now, Cruz is asking his backers to help him close the second fundraising quarter strong to help him put up a good showing against Republican front-runner Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
“I’m sure that you’ve seen that both Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton have announced their candidacies for president, just like everyone knew they would, and they’re both well on their way to raising well over $100 million each. Well, we’re not going to raise $100 million. But we don’t need to raise that much money,” Cruz said. “We have just days before the most important deadline of the 2016 presidential campaign. On June 30, every single presidential campaign must file reports with the Federal Election Commission, reporting exactly how much money we have raised.
“Once results are made public, every media outlet, from the mainstream news outlets to influential conservative magazines and websites, will have immediate access to every campaign’s financial results and they will immediately run stories about how the presidential race is shaping up. If we post strong fundraising numbers, the media will be forced to acknowledge what you and I already know — which is that our campaign has momentum.”
As of Wednesday, Cruz was bunched in the middle of the pack of the Republican presidential contenders, sitting in seventh place with 6.5 percent of the vote, according to the latest RealClearPolitics.com average. The senator was 2 percentage points ahead of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and 1.5 percentage points behind Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Cruz’s money bomb comes on the heels of a crucial Senate vote on providing President Obama “Fast Track” authority to negotiate trade deals. Cruz had previously supported and voted for Trade Promotion Authority legislation. But just before Tuesday’s vote, the Texan announced that he had had a change of heart, and later voted “no.” It did not affect the outcome, as the measure passed and advanced to the House.
The current fundraising period ends on Tuesday.
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
