Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) brought in more than $12 million in the third fundraising quarter, a strong haul that will likely show him in good standing in the Republican presidential race.
Campaign aides Thursday night confirmed that booty, which was first reported by The Associated Press.
{mosads}It brings the Texas Republican’s fundraising total to more than $26 million since he launched his bid — after bringing in $10 million in the second quarter and $4 million during the first quarter. Cruz launched his bid just one week before the end of quarter one.
His total is significantly less than the third-quarter total posted by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who raised $20 million.
But it puts Cruz well ahead of Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Rubio announced Thursday night that his campaign raised just $6 million over the third quarter, and Paul reportedly took in $2.5 million.
The campaign touted that it raised more than $1 million in the last day of the fundraising quarter, Sept. 30, and added that it has recruited a group of 6,000 “sustainers,” who have pledged monthly donations that the campaign says will cover its ground game in the first four early-voting states and 23 additional states and territories.
“We are thrilled to see a grassroots wave of support for our campaign gaining momentum all over the country,” Cruz said in a statement.
“We have both the financial and organizational resources to compete for the long haul and to take our optimistic message all across the country.”
Rick Tyler, a Cruz spokesman, told The Hill last week that the campaign was confident that the third-quarter haul would forge a dividing line between candidates that can compete during the long primary season and those who won’t have the resources to last.
Cruz and his allied super-PACs have had strong fundraising showings — the combined effort in support of Cruz trails only former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on the Republican side.
But the strong showing by Carson, both at the polls and in raising money, has stunted Cruz’s rise, as the two compete for a similar swath of voters. Carson is recently polling in second place in a RealClearPolitics average with 17.2 percent support, while Cruz is in sixth with 6.2 percent.
The campaign did not include how much it spent to raise that figure, which helps to inform about the health of the campaign. That number will be gleaned from the official campaign filing, released in the middle of October.
– Updated at 10:21 p.m.