Cruz groups bring in $51M

Sen. Ted Cruz and a group of super-PACs supporting his White House bid combined have raised more than $50 million so far this year, Cruz’s campaign announced Sunday.

Since the Texas Republican launched his 2016 bid in late March, the campaign has raised more than $14 million in small-dollar donations from 175,000 contributors, for an average of $81.

{mosads}In addition, a trio of super-PACs launched earlier this year have pulled in $37 million, for a combined total of about $51 million.

“The grassroots energy and support we are seeing is overwhelming,” Cruz said in a statement. “In Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — and all across the country — we are seeing courageous conservatives coming together for real change. We’re reassembling the Reagan coalition — from conservatives to libertarians to people of Faith — and with the help of so many supporters, we will be able to deliver our optimistic message all across the country.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to set the benchmark for fundraising this cycle. Bush’s Right to Rise PAC is believed to have raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million in the first half of the year.

Still, Cruz’s haul is impressive and puts him in the top tier of Republican candidate fundraising.

Earlier this year, Cruz supporters launched a trio of super-PACs to bolster the senator’s bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Donors to the PACs are believed to include Houston Texans owner Robert McNair, Florida businessman John Childs, and Robert Mercer, a GOP mega-donor.

Cruz’s campaign is using the figures to make the case that his appeal is wider than the media and establishment Republicans give him credit for. They said the more than 120,000 donors to the Cruz campaign came from all 50 states and five territories, and encompass nearly half of the zip codes in the U.S.

Cruz got a big bump in the polls when he became the first candidate to officially enter the race in March, but he’s seen his support fade as other candidates have thrown their hats in. He’s currently in eighth place nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls, taking 4.8 percent.