How Ted Cruz’s fundraising compares with Colin Allred in Texas

Texas Republican Ted Cruz has said he’s being “viciously outspent” and “pounded every day” as he seeks to retain his Senate seat against a challenge from Democratic Representative Colin Allred.

Cruz made the remarks during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show on Monday, in which he urged viewers to donate to his campaign to combat what he called “wild-eyed liberals that wanna buy Texas.”

According to the latest figures published by their respective campaigns, Allred raised $30.3 million for his Senate campaign during the third quarter of 2024, substantially ahead of Cruz, who received $21 million across three accounts. Cruz’s figure included money raised by his leadership PAC, which is unable to spend directly on his reelection campaign and a fundraising committee that gives money to the Texas senator’s main account and leadership PAC.

In the race before the third quarter, Allred raised $38 million to his main campaign account, significantly ahead of Cruz at $23 million. However, the scales were evened somewhat when affiliated PACs were included, boosting Cruz’s total before the third quarter to $40 million versus Allred’s $41.2 million.

Combined, Cruz and Allred have raised $132.5 million since the start of the campaign, a figure greater than the combined final figure of $119 million Cruz and Democrat Beto O’Rourke received when they battled for the seat in 2018.

Cruz successfully defended his Senate seat in 2018 with 50.9 percent of the vote against 48.3 percent for O’Rourke.

During his Fox News appearance on Monday, Cruz said: “Chuck Schumer and George Soros are flooding over $100 million into the state of Texas. I’m getting pounded every day. We had a poll that came out yesterday—showed it is a one-point race. And we’re getting viciously outspent.”

The senator then asked viewers to visit his website and contribute “25 bucks, 50, 100, maybe somebody giving $500 or $1,000” to combat what he termed “wild-eyed liberals that wanna buy Texas.”

In a statement sent to Newsweek about Allred’s third-quarter fundraising total his campaign manager Paige Hutchinson said: “From the $5 grassroots donors to the families knocking doors together each weekend, this campaign is about bringing Texans together and holding Ted Cruz accountable for only caring about himself. This November, Colin Allred will send Ted Cruz packing for good.”

Newsweek reached out to Cruz via email for comment on Tuesday outside of regular office hours.

Earlier this week, Politico reported that an October poll from the GOP-affiliated Senate Leadership Fund (SLP), cited in a memo produced by the PAC, put Cruz ahead by just 1 percent compared to a 3 percent lead in September.

In better news for Cruz, a Marist Poll of 1,186 Texan likely voters, conducted from October 3 to 7, put the Republican incumbent at 51 percent, five points ahead of Allred at 46 percent. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.

On Monday, former President Donald Trump gave Cruz, who he defeated in the bitterly contested 2016 presidential primary, an enthusiastic endorsement on his Truth Social website.

The Republican presidential candidate wrote: “While I have endorsed Ted, on numerous occasions, verbally, because of the importance of the race, and Ted’s importance to the future of our Country, I thought the endorsement should be memorialized in writing.

“Senator Ted Cruz is doing a tremendous job representing the Great People of Texas, a State I love and WON BIG in 2016 and 2020, and, based on the Polls, will win even bigger in November. To the people of Texas, I greatly appreciate your support, and, as you know, I HAVE NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

Update 10/15/24, 11:08 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Colin Allred’s campaign chief, Paige Hutchinson.