Ted Cruz: Campaign and super PAC have raised more than $40 million

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said this week there is now more than $40 million raised between his presidential campaign and a group of super PACs supporting his candidacy.

Mr. Cruz, who became the first major Republican candidate to jump into the 2016 presidential race back in March, said candidates will need both grassroots support and money to win the nomination.

“I think for anyone to be a serious candidate, he or she is going to need to raise at least $50 million between now and South Carolina, and I think there are only a handful of candidates who have a prayer of doing so,” he said on Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto.” “Right now, between our campaign and the super PAC, we’ve raised over $40 million, we have shattered records.”

He said in the first week of the campaign, the campaign itself raised $4.3 million with more than 50,000 contributions from all 50 states and said that the collection of super PACs supporting him have already raised more than $37 million.

Mr. Cruz predicted former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has set a June 15 date for an announcement on his 2016 plans, is going to “shatter” fund-raising records and raise “way north” of $100 million.

“Among the donors, he is Mick Jagger and the Beatles roiled into one,” Mr. Cruz said. “But you got to get actual, real [live] primary votes, and in my experience, grassroots plus money will beat a whole lot more money just about every day of the week.”

“When you get beyond Jeb Bush, there are only a couple other candidates who I think have the potential to raise the funds it’s [going to] take to run a nationwide campaign — not a Hail Mary in one or two states — but a nationwide campaign,” Mr. Cruz said. “That’s what we’re doing, and that combination of grassroots plus donor support, small dollar, large dollar, the business community, all coming together fed up with the corruption in Washington and wanting to get back to basic free market principles and our constitutional liberties.”