Rep. Beto O’Rourke
Abby Tannenbaum has never been to Texas. But that hasn’t stopped the 23-year-old digital strategist from Florida from sending $2 a month for the past year to help fuel the campaign of El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Anybody who’s running against Ted Cruz,” she said at a recent “Beers with Beto” fundraiser near the U.S. Capitol — a standing-room only event populated largely by the capital city’s burgeoning class of young professionals. “He’s scarier than Donald Trump.”
Frank McGrath, a 57-year-old pizza shop owner in Southern California, has never been to Texas either. But he chips in $25 a month to Cruz, for a running total so far of more than $780.
“I have XM (satellite) radio, and I listen to Mark Levin and Patriot Radio,” he said. “I remember Mark Levin saying Ted Cruz is a guy we need for our country and in our Senate.”
Neither can cast a vote for O’Rourke or Cruz, but they are contributing to a mountain of cash coming from all corners of the nation to a contest that has become a proxy for an ideological divide that’s even bigger than Texas.
Cruz, who established a national fundraising base in his 2016 White House bid, has relied on out-of-state contributors for some $2.5 million — or nearly half of the $5.1 million in itemized personal contributions to his re-election campaign as of the end of March.
O’Rourke, who has become something of a cause célèbre among Democrats nationally, saw nearly $2.3 million in out-of-state contributions — a little less than a third of his total $7.7 million cash haul for the same period, according to a Chronicle review of federal campaign reports.
The Chronicle analysis counts only contributions of $200 or more, which must be reported to the Federal Election Commission. But they provide a window into the flow of campaign cash from individual contributors, as opposed to spending by independent groups and political action committees.
The cash flow makes clear that O’Rourke’s longshot quest to unseat Cruz, whatever the outcome, has become a national contest of partisan passions drawing media and rooting interest from coast to coast.
Cruz raised $4 million last quarter. Beto hasn’t announced a total yet, but he raised over $7 million in Q1, and everyone expects he will post another strong number. As we’ve said before, fundraising isn’t destiny, but at every opportunity, Dems have shown a higher than usual level of engagement and enthusiasm. It may not be enough to win statewide this year – the polls do show Cruz with a seven-point average lead, after all – but the gap is narrowing, and there’s a lot of room around the state to make gains. You have to start somewhere, and it looks like the Dems finally have.
UPDATE: Beto O’Rourke hadn’t announced any numbers as of the time I was writing this. Now he has.
Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, raised more than $10.4 million over the past three months, he announced Wednesday, revealing a sum that takes his already massive fundraising to new heights.
The latest haul, which brought O’Rourke’s cash-on-hand total to over $14 million, is easily his biggest yet. It tops the $6.7 million he raked in during the first quarter, which was more than double what the Republican incumbent, Ted Cruz, took in at the same time.
O’Rourke, who announced his latest fundraising figures Wednesday night on Facebook Live, also saw a big increase in the number of individual contributions to his campaign — from roughly 141,000 in the first quarter to 216,000 during the most recent period.
Yowza.
Great, he can fund that idea you had back in March, and still have 10 million left over on hand. There are a lot of down ballot races, especially in the rural areas where the candidates on the Democratic side are sucking wind for money right now.
The young woman in New York that beat the incumbent did not have a lot of money, used to be that volunteers and hard work could carry the day. When the candidates start working as a team they will accomplish much more. This year all Democrats should be pushing to vote straight Democrat.
Money buys people to push you, and television time, not sure how much television is effecting voting now. Do need money for push cards and yard signs.
Pingback: Republican reactions to Beto’s fundraising – Off the Kuff