Cruz super-PACs expect $31 million haul over one week

A group of super-PACs that launched to support Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) presidential bid expect to bring in a whopping $31 million by the end of their first week, according to multiple reports.

Bloomberg Politics first reported that four affiliated Keep the Promise super-PACs set up by Cruz supporters earlier this week are touting the figure as evidence the candidate will compete for the long-haul in the Republican primaries.

“Our goal is to guarantee Senator Cruz can compete against any candidate,” Dathan Voelter, the treasurer for the super PACs, told The Washington Post. “Supporters of the Senator now have a powerful vehicle with the resources necessary to aid in his effort to secure the Republican nomination and win back The White House.”

{mosads}None of the outlets reporting the figure could independently verify the $31 million. The super-PACs won’t report to the Federal Election Commission until July.

An email to Voelter was not been returned.

Since becoming the first Republican candidate to officially enter the field late last month, Cruz has been hitting back at early criticism from some on the right who say he’s too inexperienced, his style too abrasive, and his appeal too limited for him to compete nationally.

Cruz’s impressive fundraising hauls have helped him make the argument that his appeal is wider than the media and establishment Republicans give him credit for.

The day after Cruz launched his bid for the White House, he went on Fox News and announced he had raised $1 million in the first 36 hours from small-dollar, grassroots supporters. The following week, Cruz’s team sent out a press release boasting it had raised $4 million in its first week, with 95 percent of the contributions totaling $100 or less.

But the super-PAC money blows those figures away. Super-PACs can raise unlimited funds from private individuals without disclosing donor names.

Republican strategist Karl Rove has said candidates will need to raise at least $50 million to make it through the primaries, putting Cruz well on his way. Cruz’s early entrance into the presidential field has also given him a significant polling bump and vaulted him into the top tier of GOP contenders.

Cruz went up with his first TV ads over Easter weekend, and Voelter told the Texas Tribune those were only the opening salvo.

“Keep the Promise can provide the ‘appropriate air cover’ in the battle against Senator Cruz’s opponents in the Washington establishment and on the political left,” he said.