The Lone Star State senator doesn’t want to be left all alone.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) bashed the Senate Minority Leader and expressed frustration over the lack of support he has received from the Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund.
“Sadly no, not a penny,” Cruz vented on Fox News’ “Life Liberty & Levin,” when asked if he got any resources from the Senate Leadership Fund.
“McConnell runs the largest Republican super PAC in the country and has $400 million but that super PAC is used to reward the Republican senators who obey him and to punish those who dare to stand up to him,” he added.
Technically, McConnell is precluded by federal campaign finance law from directly making spending decisions for the Senate Leadership Fund, though he has actively raised money for it. The group is also stacked with loyalists, including his former chief of staff Steven Law who is its CEO.
Cruz has a lengthy history of chaffing with McConnell. During his first year in the upper chamber, Cruz championed a push to leverage a government funding fight in a bid to scrap the Affordable Care Act — a ploy that McConnell opposed.
Ultimately, that led to a government shutdown in 2013 and the Affordable Care Act remained intact. From there, Cruz and McConnell have repeatedly butted heads on what tactics to employ.
“Chuck Schumer has been explicit on his number one target in the country, and they are spending between $100 and $150 million trying to beat me,” Cruz warned.
Republicans generally feel outgunned by Democrats on the airwaves in key House and Senate races. The GOP has a favorable 2024 Senate map, only needing to defend 11 seats compared to the Democrats’ 23 seats — including three held by Independents. Still, Democrats have incumbents and a lot of cash to defend those seats.
Texas is ranked as the weakest incumbent Senate seat for the GOP of the 2024 cycle, with a “Lean Republican” rating from the Cook Political Report.
Despite Texas going to former President Donald Trump by over 5.5 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election, Democrats have been optimistic that they have a shot of flipping the Senate seat.
Cruz is facing a spirited contest from Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), which comes six years after he eked out a victory over former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) in a blue wave year by about 2.6 percentage points.
For comparison, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is vying to replace retiring McConnell as the GOP Senate leader in November, prevailed in his 2020 reelection bid by just shy of 10 points.
“[Democrats] have been running attack ads nonstop. I just got up on TV three weeks ago. Now it’s not that I didn’t want to be on TV three months ago. We didn’t have the money. We’re being massively outspent,” Cruz warned.
“Poll after poll show this race as a one-point race or a two-point race or a three-point race. There are two public polls that have come out that show me losing,” Cruz stressed. “It is an incredibly close race.”
The latest RealClearPolitics polling aggregate of the Texas Senate race pegs Cruz with a 4.8 percentage point edge over Allred.
Last month, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) unveiled plans to mount a multi-million-dollar ad campaign against Cruz.
Internal polling and other data from the Senate Leadership Fund revealed that the GOP is privately nervous about Texas and Nebraska, where incumbent Sen. Debbie Fischer (R-Neb.) is facing a tougher-than-expected contest from Independent contender Dan Osborn.
The group’s internal poll pegged Cruz with a threadbare 1-point lead against Allred.
Last month, the head of the Senate Leadership Fund downplayed risks in Texas.
“I think we’ll be okay in both of them. This is a presidential cycle. Neither one of those states is going to be on the radar of the Democrats,” Law told the Wall Street Journal.
“Senator Cruz and Senator Rick Scott have done what you want incumbents to do, which is to be prepared to raise money, to take their races seriously, and to run good campaigns.”
Republicans had seen 2024 Senate pickup opportunities in places like West Virginia, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona. They currently possess 49 seats compared to the Democrats’ 51.
