FIRST ON FOX — It was another solid fundraising quarter for Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as he builds resources for his campaign for re-election this year to a third six-year term in the Senate.
The conservative firebrand lawmaker brought in $5.5 million during the October-December fourth quarter of 2023 fundraising, according to figures shared first with Fox News on Thursday morning.
Cruz's haul from his three fundraising committees is up slightly from the $5.4 million he brought in the previous three months. He raised $4.4 million during the April-June second quarter and $1.8 million during the first three months of 2023.
The senator's fourth quarter haul is also a $3.7 million increase from the final three months of 2017, the similar fundraising quarter during his 2018 re-election campaign.
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The senator's team also highlighted that, additionally, the Ted Cruz Victory Fund brought in $1.4 million that was transferred to the National Republican Senatorial Committee — the Senate GOP's campaign arm — and to the Republican Party of Texas.
The campaign showcased that they had 78,000 unique contributions, with an average contribution of $36.67, from Texans in 247 out of the Lone Star State's 254 counties, as well as supporters in all 50 states.
The Cruz campaign also reported that it closed out 2023 with over $7.3 million cash-on-hand.
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Cruz spokesman Nick Maddux told Fox News in a statement that "we continue to see an increase in energy and support from patriots across the Lone Star State and the nation. Texans are fired up to re-elect Senator Ted Cruz and ensure that Texas remains our nation's conservative stronghold."
Additionally, he argued that "the stakes could not be higher as the radical left threatens to dismantle our Texan way of life, which is why Senator Cruz will continue blazing his campaign trail with the people of Texas to ensure that we keep Texas Texas."
Cruz has said that his re-election bid is "going to be a firefight," and there is a large field of Democrats gunning to win their party’s nomination and face off with him in November.
Cruz, who narrowly defeated then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke in a hard-fought 2018 Senate battle, touted in a Fox News Digital interview last year that, after former President Trump, "there is no Republican in the country that Democrats hate more than me."
He added that is "something I wear as a badge of honor. There is no Republican that they would like to beat more than me."
Cruz was significantly out-raised in that 2018 showdown by O’Rourke, and Rep. Colin Allred, the most prominent of the Democrats running to take on Cruz, topped the senator by nearly $2 million during the second quarter of 2023, but the senator topped Allred in the third quarter by roughly $600,000.
Allred has yet to announce his fourth quarter fundraising. Candidates for the Senate have until Jan. 15 to file their reports with the Federal Election Commission.
Senate Democrats are defending their fragile 51-49 majority in November's elections.
Republicans need a net gain of either one or two seats to win back the majority — depending on which party controls the White House after next year’s presidential election.
The math and the map favor the GOP, as the Democrats are defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs, including three in red states and a handful in key general election battlegrounds.
