Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, got the jump on the rest of the GOP presidential field by announcing first and now he’s reaping the benefits, reporting today that he’s raised $4 million, almost all of it from small donors.
According to the Cruz campaign, 95 percent of the $4 million he’s raised since launching his presidential campaign March 23 came from contributors giving $100 or less.
“Often you have an establishment candidate, usually the moderate, who will be well funded,” Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told the Wall St. Journal. “Here we have a candidate who is conservative and can raise money.”
Cruz, who shot to the Senate in 2012 as a tea party favorite, is determined to be competitive in fund-raising and to contrast himself with the “establishment” candidates who attract corporate donors.
Other potential GOP candidates who have not entered the race are already big money draws, especially Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, who today finishes up a four day five-city fund raising tour of California.
Last week, Jeb Bush was in Texas for a fund raising event in Dallas that included his brother, former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush, where contributors were asked to give as much as $100,000 per couple to potential candidate’s Right to Rise Super PAC. That was followed by a Houston fund raiser featuring his father, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
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