He might be. His fundraising is anemic and he’s acting panicked
It’s hard to imagine that he’s not going to be re-elected in Texas but he is the most unlikable official in politics (and that’s saying something) so maybe even the Texans are sick of him:
THE WALLS ARE closing in around Ted Cruz, and the Republican senator is lashing out.
Cruz, who has served two terms as Texas junior senator, is facing a tough reelection challenge from former NFL player and current U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who won Texas’ Democratic Senate primary in a landslide victory last month.
On Wednesday, Cruz begged for donation on Fox News while complaining that Allred is out fundraising his 2018 challenger, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, by leaps and bounds.
“The Democrats are coming after me, they are gonna spend more than $100 million this year, George Soros is already spending millions of dollars in the state of Texas,” Cruz told Sean Hannity. “My opponent a liberal Democrat named Colin Allred, is out raising Beto O’Rourke, my last opponent, 3 to 1. They are flooding millions of dollars into Texas — and the reason is simple. You remember my last reelection, it was a 3-point race. I won by 2.6 percent.”
Cruz’s fundraising concerns may explain a very shady financial arrangement the senator has with iHeartMedia, the hosting platform of his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. Last week, The Houston Chronicle reported that the radio network paid out $630,850 to a Cruz-affiliated super Pac, Truth and Courage. According to FEC data reviewed by the Chronicle, the six-figure sum represents about a third of the PAC’s fundraising haul since 2023. The LoseCruz PAC, a political action committee challenging the senator’s reelection, first reported a $214,752.98 transfer from iHeartMedia to Truth and Courage in March.
A Cruz campaign spokesperson told the Chronicle that the senator “appears on ‘Verdict’ three times a week for free.” A representative from the company said the funds were the proceeds of sales for the podcast’s advertising inventory, and that Cruz “volunteers his time to host this podcast and isn’t compensated for it.” But if iHeartMedia is sending massive checks to a PAC affiliated with his reelection campaign, is there really no benefit to Cruz?
Of course there is. He needs money badly because he’s not raising enough.
I still don’t think he’s going to lose. Texas is totally radicalized. But you never know. Sometimes there’s an individual so odious that even people who agree with them can’t stand to look at them anymore.