AP Photo Ted Cruz: 'Republican donors actively despise our base'

Sen. Ted Cruz drew a stark contrast between Democratic donors and Republican donors during a floor speech late Monday.

Democratic donors, Cruz said, don't hate the liberal base, but Republican donors "actively despise" conservatives.


"On the Democratic side, the major donors that fund the Democratic Party, they don't despise their base. The billionaires who write the giant checks that fund President Obama and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats on that side of the aisle, they don't despise the radical gay rights movement or the radical environmentalist movement or all of the people that knock on doors and get Democrats elected," Cruz said.

By contrast, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate continued, "Republican donors actively despise our base, actively despise the men and women who showed up and voted you and me into office."

"I can tell you when you sit down and talk with a New York billionaire Republican donor — and I have talked with quite a few New York billionaire Republican donors, California Republican donors, their questions start out as follows," Cruz said. "First of all, you've got to come out for gay marriage, you need to be pro-choice, and you need to support amnesty. That's where the Republican donors are. You wonder why Republicans won't fight on any of these issues? Because the people writing the checks agree with the Democrats."'

Those donors, Cruz added, also view the people who elected the Republican majorities in Congress "as a bunch of ignorant hicks and rubes."

Earlier in the year, Ian Reisner and Mati Weiderpass, two gay New York hoteliers, found themselves under fire after hosting Cruz at a dinner. As a result, activists pushed for a boycott of Out NYC, a hotel created by Weiderpass and Reisner that aims to appeal to gay customers. Reisner eventually asked for a refund of the donation he gave to Cruz.

For all his complaints about GOP donors, Cruz has been a competitive fundraiser in 2016. In the second quarter, his campaign raised $10 million and the super PACs supporting him brought in a hefty $37.8 million — a large chunk of it from Long Island hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer.