Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) raised over $5 million in the first quarter, a sizeable haul coming in wake of leftist calls for his resignation following the January 6 Capitol protest.
Cruz hauled in $5,317,000 among Ted Cruz for Senate, Ted Cruz Victory Committee, and the Jobs, Freedom, Security PAC in the first three months of the year. Ninety-eight percent of the 127,896 donations, which stemmed from 112,028 donors including 61,888 first-time donors, were less than $100. Donations averaged $41.
“Ted Cruz is the preeminent defender of freedom for the Lone Star State,” Cruz spokesman Steve Guest said in a statement.
“Every day, Sen. Cruz fights back against President Biden’s radical policy agenda that hurts Texans, raises taxes, harms small businesses, and increases our national debt,” he continued.
“Sen. Cruz is immensely thankful to the hardworking men and women across the country for their generous contributions,” Guest added.
Ted Cruz for Senate currently has $5,634,900 cash on hand, per the release.
Cruz’s haul follows a contentious January, where radical leftists falsely accused him of inciting the January 6 Capitol protest by questioning the results of the election in disputed states. In early January, days before the certification of the election results, Cruz led a group of GOP senators in announcing their intention to “reject the electors from disputed states” due to “unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities” in the 2020 presidential election.
“Accordingly, we intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,” the senators wrote in a joint letter.
Leftists immediately blamed former President Trump, as well as several GOP lawmakers, for the riot, accusing them of inciting lawlessness by questioning the results in the first place.
“Sen. Cruz, you must accept responsibility for how your craven, self-serving actions contributed to the deaths of four people yesterday. And how you fundraised off this riot. Both you and Senator Hawley must resign,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said the day following the protest.
“If you do not, the Senate should move for your expulsion,” she warned:
Cruz engaged in a back and forth with the radical Democrat, explaining, “Your LIE is that debating an Election Commission in the Senate somehow supports terrorist violence.”
Similarly, Texas Democrats Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and his brother and former presidential candidate Julián Castro also called for Cruz’s resignation, as did the Houston Chronicle editorial board.
Notably, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who objected to the 2020 Electoral College vote, also reported a big fundraising haul, raking in over $3 million in the first quarter despite facing similar criticisms.