Cruz opponent Allred raises $30 million in 3 months

Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) announced Tuesday that he has raised more than $30 million over the past three months in his battle against incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), reflecting broad desire among Democratic donors to defeat one of the Senate’s most prominent conservatives.

To date, Allred, a former NFL linebacker who was elected to the House in 2018, has raised $68.7 million for his Senate campaign.

His third-quarter fundraising haul, which covers July, August and September, is nearly $9 million more than the $21 million that Cruz reported for the same period.

“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,” Allred campaign manager Paige Hutchinson said. “This November, Colin Allred will send Ted Cruz packing for good.”

Allred’s huge fundraising number matches comes close to matching Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who last week reported raising $30.6 million in the third quarter of this year.

Cruz’s allies had expected in recent weeks that Republicans would spend between $50 million and $100 million to defend the incumbent GOP senator, and that Democrats would spend $100 million to $150 million to defeat him.

An Emerson College/The Hill/Nexstar Media poll of Texas voters published late last month found Cruz leading Allred by 4 points, 49 percent to 45 percent, with 6 percent undecided.

The poll found that 50 percent of voters in the state have an unfavorable view of Cruz, while 48 percent have a favorable view of him.

Forty-four percent of voters view Allred favorably, 40 percent have an unfavorable view of him and 15 percent said they hadn’t heard of him.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) announced last month it would launch a multimillion-dollar television advertising campaign in Texas and Florida targeting Cruz and vulnerable Florida incumbent Sen. Rick Scott (R).

The Allred campaign on Tuesday reported collecting 1.8 million individual contributions and $68.7 million in total receipts since its launch. It also reported receiving contributions from 252 of Texas’s 254 counties and an average donation of $36.57.

Allred’s huge fundraising total is reminiscent of the $80 million then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) raised against Cruz in the 2018 Texas Senate race.

Cruz narrowly beat O’Rourke that year, winning with 50.9 percent of the vote to O’Rourke’s 48.3 percent.

Allred is on pace to surpass O’Rourke’s impressive fundraising haul. O’Rourke had raised $61 million by the end of the third quarter of 2018; Allred was already $7.7 million past that mark at the end of September.