Rep. Colin Allred raises greater than $2 million in first 36 hours of his Senate marketing campaign in opposition to Ted Cruz

Rep. Colin Allred announced that his Senate campaign had raised more than $2 million in a day and a half in its race to defeat Senator Ted Cruz.

Rep. Allred tweeted:

I’ve been part of some incredible teams in my life, but you all have helped me raise over $2 million in just 36 hours since I announced my campaign to represent all Texans.

Together we set a record for this cycle by collecting the most on the first day of a Senate campaign.

— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) May 5, 2023

To add some context, Allred raised as much money in less than two days as Beto O’Rourke raised in the entire first quarter of his Senate campaign against Cruz:

This is almost exactly the first quarter of Beto O’Rourke’s fundraising in 2017. https://t.co/ykT0H4Bky1

— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) May 5, 2023

The 2018 Senate election brought Beto O’Rourke to national prominence when he narrowly lost to Cruz by 2.6 points or 219,000 votes in one of the reddest states in the country.

There are clear signs of trouble for Cruz in his favorability rating, as Texas voters are split 45% to 44% on the incumbent Republican senator’s approval rating.

Senator Cruz (R) has spent the years since he ran against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 snuggling up to the former president.

However, Trump has had constant struggles with voters in Texas. According to the April 2023 Texas Polling Project Poll, Trump’s approval rating has eluded all Texas voters (42%-48%), but he remains immensely popular with strong Republicans (86% approval).

It seems that Cruz could be in for another close re-election campaign, and if Allred keeps raising funds, the long-awaited Texas statewide victory has a chance to come true in 2024.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House press pool and congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a bachelor’s degree in political science. His thesis focused on public policy with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and professional memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association