DES MOINES, IOWA— Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign is celebrating their victory tonight in Iowa and reminding rivals and supporters that they’re leaving the state with a lot of cash and more momentum.
“We leave here with 19 million dollars,” Cruz Communications Director, Rick Tyler, told reporters Monday evening. “That is more money that Bush, Rubio, Kasich and Christie combined.”
“People cannot leave Iowa with no money in the bank. Lots of candidates have done it, tried it, even when they’ve won and they have not gone on to win the nomination.”
Tyler continued to stress the importance of money going forward in the election.
“We’ve now won Iowa. We’ve got the resources to compete in the next early states and all the way until through March 15. I think this is going to be a big boost, not only financially but organizationally with more people coming on.”
Tyler argued that Cruz’s victory shows his ability to defeat powerful institutions.
Iowa’s sitting governor Gov. Branstad opposed Cruz. Iowa secretary of state, Paul Pate, harshly criticized Trump last week over a controversial mailer. Cruz was also hit by attacks from the powerful ethanol industry who disapproved of Cruz’s stance on ethanol subsidies.
“We did have a sitting governor who called openly for the defeat of Ted Cruz. That was kind of unprecedented and not really the Iowa way,” Tyler said.