Ted Cruz forced to beg GOP establishment for money as opponent surges

The stronger-than-expected challenge posed by Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Beto O’Rourke has prompted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to reach out to his GOP colleagues in search of campaign cash.

The Washington Examiner reports that during a lunch with Republicans in Washington, D.C., Cruz “passed the hat for campaign cash” as his “anxiety mounts” about the O’Rourke challenge.

For months, O’Rourke has been crisscrossing the state and raising millions in a grassroots effort that rejects money from political action committees.

In his last race, when he was first elected to the Senate in 2012, Cruz easily won by 16 points. Recent polls have shown Cruz ahead by only an average of 5 percent. Some polling has shown the race as close as 1 or 2 points.

A Republican operative told the Examiner that Cruz “was pretty intense last week” and that he “needs the dough” for his race.

Cruz is facing something of a challenge raising funds, thanks to his abrasive attitude, with which he has run afoul of many politicians within his own party in addition to Democrats. A source told the Examiner, “The bulk of these donors can’t stand Cruz.”

Now, those same Republican power brokers are the ones he has to look to for money to take on O’Rourke.

As of July 1, O’Rourke had $14 million in cash on hand to put into his campaign, while by comparison Cruz had only $9 million.

A Republican consultant told the paper, “I’m freaking worried” about the state of the race.

The report of campaign finance woes for Cruz comes just a few days after a lawyer for the parents of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting took him to task.

Echoing others who have pushed unfounded concerns about conservative views being censored by Facebook, Cruz lamented that the service banned conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Jones has claimed that the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook was a hoax.

The lawyers told Cruz, “We just want you to fully understand what you are defending before you throw the weight of your office behind the man who has tormented their lives and so many others.”

Cruz isn’t having a good run of things, which may explain why he called in his former nemesis, now political ally, Trump, to help him out in Texas.

This race should be an easy enough win for him. But Cruz has been busy shooting himself in the foot, and now he has to rely on conservatives he used to trash for a bailout.