Sen. Rand Paul was headed toward $1 million raised 24 hours after kicking off his bid for the presidency.
The Kentucky Republican had raised more than $750,000, and counting, from small donors, according to a fundraising ticker on his campaign website that also shows the names and hometowns of contributors. Paul was on pace to exceed the first-day fundraising total of the only other official major Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz. The Texan raised $500,000 from small donors the first 24 hours of his campaign, and $4 million his first eight days in the race.
Paul had raked in $751,000 as of 9:40 Eastern Time Wednesday morning, according to his website. Paul campaign spokesman Sergio Gor confirmed that this total applied to online fundraising only, and did not include money accumulated through other fundraising activities.
The Kentuckian announced for president on Tuesday during a speech in Louisville, Ky. Paul immediately jetted off to a campaign swing that would take him to the three early primary states, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, as well as Nevada. Paul’s father, former Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, won the GOP primary in Nevada when he ran for president in 2012.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg News’ Mark Halperin was reporting that Cruz was upping the ante in the competition for campaign dollars. Supporters of the Texas senator are launching a trio of super PACs to boost his presidential campaign, and said they would have an eye-popping $31 million in the bank between them by the end of this week.
