Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is stepping up his efforts as he faces a difficult second consecutive re-election campaign.
The conservative conservative senator, who is running for a third six-year term to represent the Lone Star State in the Senate, is hiring staff, volunteers, grassroots supporters, and staff to officially open his campaign headquarters in 2024. Unite with friends and family in Houston on Saturday.
The move comes days after Mr. Cruz announced that he had raised a significant amount of money in campaign contributions over the past three months.
The senator brought in $9.7 million during fundraising in the first quarter of 2024, according to numbers first shared with Fox News on Wednesday. Mr. Cruz’s revenue from his three fundraising committees was nearly double the $5.5 million he raised in the previous three months.
First on FOX: Cruise has made nearly $10 million in the past three months
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas speaks at a donor conference hosted by the Conservative Growth Club on March 3, 2023 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Fox News)
And the senator’s political team said Mr. Cruz had $15.1 million in cash on hand from three fundraising committees as of the end of March. They pointed out that this figure includes money he sent to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of Senate Republicans. Texas Republican Party (RPT), specific to his race.
Campaign spokesman Nick Maddux told Fox News that the senator is “off to a very strong start this year as momentum continues to build across the Lone Star State to cross the finish line in November. ” he said.
6 key Senate seats that could change hands in November
Mr. Cruz, who narrowly defeated Sen. Beto O’Rourke in a bitter 2018 Senate race, will spend all the money he raised as he faces a tough re-election battle against his Democratic challenger, Sen. Colin Allred. It’s going to happen.
Mr. Allred, a former NFL player, civil rights attorney and three-term congressman representing a suburban Dallas district, nearly matched Mr. Cruz’s fundraising efforts on Thursday. His campaign said he raised more than $9.5 million in the first quarter.
Allred campaign manager Paige Hutchinson emphasized that the fundraising “continues the momentum of building a strong campaign to win in November and send Ted Cruz away for good.”
Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, arrives at the U.S. Capitol for the final vote of the week on April 20, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
Allred likely received a boost from President Biden, who told big donors at a fundraiser in Dallas last month, “We have to elect Colin to be the next senator…That’s why we need Ted.” Mr. Cruz joins another loser, Donald Trump.”
The former president is the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential candidate.
Cruz, who came in second to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, teased a second run for the White House earlier this term and announced he would seek a third term in the Senate in late 2022.
The senator will join volunteers and staff on Saturday and spend the day doing phone banking and door-knocking on Cruz’s behalf. The campaign says it has already reached more than 1 million direct voters and is on track to reach historic grassroots numbers.
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“Senator Cruz will be here as he meets and speaks with Texans in every corner of the state to preserve Texas and ensure that we remain the bastion of freedom in this nation,” Maddux said. I will continue to pound the pavement day in and day out,” he said.
Mr. O’Rourke raised significantly more money than Mr. Cruz in 2018 in a high-profile race that garnered a lot of national attention.
In an interview with Fox News’ “Hannity” last week, Cruz said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the House, said, “It’s clear. He’s after Texas. I’m his No. 1 target in the country. ” he claimed. . ”
Cruz claimed that Democrats “are going to spend over $100 million this year…Democrats are pouring millions of dollars into Texas.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) votes at the U.S. Capitol on December 5, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc, via Getty Images)
The senator has long been popular with conservatives across the country for his many rants against Democrats, from his early attacks on President Barack Obama to his recent attacks on President Biden.
But Mr. Cruz has shown a flair for bipartisanship, recently launching “Democrats for Cruz,” which aims to attract left-wing voters.
He also seeks to portray Allred as a partisan who votes in lockstep with his party.
But Allred’s campaign counters that his bid is about “rejecting Ted Cruz’s divisiveness and fighting for the freedom of Texans.”
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Democrats maintain a slim majority of 51 to 49 The chamber includes three independent senators who caucus with the Democratic conference.
That means Republicans will need a net gain of one or two seats to regain the majority, depending on which party controls the White House after this year’s presidential election.
mathematics and maps support the republican party The Democratic Party holds 23 of the 34 contested seats. Three of those seats are in red states that Trump won in 2020: West Virginia, Montana and Ohio.
Democrats are also defending a seat open in West Virginia after Sen. Joe Manchin announced late last year that he would not seek re-election.
The other five seats held by blue are in key battleground states that President Biden narrowly won in 2020: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
In the blue state of Maryland, Senate Republicans successfully backed popular former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.
Texas and Florida, where incumbent Sen. Rick Scott is up for re-election, appear to be the only contested seats held by Republicans this November.
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