Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican senator who was the first to officially announce his candidacy, raised $4.3 million in the final days of March, including $250,000 transferred from his Senate campaign. He spent $371,513 during that period. In addition to soliciting small-dollar donors online, Mr. Cruz collected donations for the primary limit of $2,700 from 193 individuals, and donations of $5,400, which represents the limit for both the primary and the general election, from another 57 (money given for the general election cannot be spent during the primary).
The super PACs supporting Mr. Cruz and other candidates and potential candidates won’t start reporting their contributions until July, but those supporting Mr. Cruz are reported to have raised over $30 million already.
Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon who is exploring a candidacy, raised $2.1 million for his exploratory committee during the first quarter, mostly from donors giving less than $200 each. Mr. Carson loaned his committee $25,000. His committee paid more than $200,000 to TMA Direct, which offers email marketing and other fund-raising services, and spent a total of $480,157 for the period.
Marco Rubio, the Florida Republican senator who declared his presidential candidacy on Monday, won’t file his first campaign finance report until July 15. But he has an existing joint fund-raising committee that reported raising $1.8 million during the first three months of the year, with most of that going to his Senate campaign committee and Reclaim America PAC, his leadership committee. The money in his Senate committee can be transferred to his presidential campaign, and there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t be, as Mr. Rubio is not running for re-election.
Rand Paul’s presidential campaign also won’t file its first report until July, but his affiliated committee, the Rand Paul Victory Committee, reported raising $332,000 during the first three months of the year. That money will be split between his presidential campaign, his Senate campaign and his leadership PAC, but none of them got any contributions from this committee.
A Snapshot of the Campaign Finance Landscape
