Cruz announces $51 million fundraising haul

Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday announced that he had raised more than $51 million in his first few months as a presidential candidate, split between his official campaign and the super PACs supporting his 2016 bid.

For the campaign itself, Cruz said he had taken in more than $14.2 million from over 175,000 contributions, averaging $81 each. The campaign claimed to have more than 120,000 unique donors.


Along with the previously announced $37 million in donations to Cruz’s super PACs, the total means the Texas senator “will have the resources, the manpower, and the energy to compete vigorously in all early state contests, as well as nationally in the Super Tuesday states on March 1st,” the campaign said.

The Cruz campaign also touted more than 1,182,175 unique visitors to its website and claimed “over 31 million engagements on Facebook or Twitter.”

The result, the campaign said, was “one of the most successful presidential launches in modern history.”

Also Sunday, Cruz appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he defended Donald Trump on immigration and called out “the Washington cartel” he says is ignoring the issue.

“I salute Donald Trump for focusing on the need to address illegal immigration,” Cruz said of his rival for the 2016 GOP nomination, adding that it “seems the favorite sport of the Washington media is to encourage some Republicans to attack other Republicans.”

“I’m not interested in Republican on Republican violence,” he told host Chuck Todd, adding that “bold … brash” Trump “has a colorful way of speaking.”

The Texas senator’s comments were similar to his defense of Trump during “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.

“When it comes to Donald Trump, I like Donald Trump,” Cruz said on the show. “I think he’s terrific.”

Trump sparked a backlash with inflammatory comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign kickoff speech, leading to NBC and Univision severing ties with the billionaire real-estate mogul and Macy’s dropping his clothing line.

Marco Rubio, the Florida senator who is also vying for the Republican nomination, took a more critical approach on Trump’s statements.

“Trump’s comments are not just offensive and inaccurate, but also divisive,” Rubio said in a statement released Friday.