Ted Cruz: DC Establishment ‘Terrified’ by Grassroots Conservatives Fueling Campaign with Small-Dollar Donations

The Washington establishment is “terrified” by grassroots conservatives who are powering Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) presidential campaign with small-dollar donations.

In an interview from South Carolina’s Freedom Summit that aired on Breitbart News Sunday, Cruz scoffed at a New York Times story that brushed off his chances of winning the GOP nomination because “Cruz has done nothing to endear himself to the elites.” Political scientists the Times interviewed after Cruz announced his candidacy in late March asserted that “the single most important determinant of the outcome of the nomination is the support from party elites” like donors, establishment officials and various special interest group leaders.

Cruz told Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon that he thought the “whole point of the campaign” was running against Washington’s bipartisan permanent political class.

Cruz said his campaign had a goal of raising $1 million in his first week in the race but met that goal in just the first day en route to raising over $4.3 million in his first week as a declared candidate.

He said the campaign received more than 51,000 contributions from all 50 states in the week after he formally entered the race and 95% of those contributions were $100 or less.

Cruz said the conservative grassroots appreciate him because all he tries to do is “tell the truth and do what I said I would do.”

“It says something about D.C. that those are viewed as so radical and extreme,” Cruz said. “This city is fundamentally corrupt.”

He reiterated his point that the greatest divide in the country is not between Democrats and Republicans but between “career politicians in Washington in both parties and the American people.”

Cruz said the “last six weeks have been breathtaking” as he and his family have been received by standing-room only crowds on their “barnstorming tour” to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

He said he has been encouraged by courageous conservatives who are “fed up” with the status quo and are drawn to his candidacy.