Sen. Ted Cruz continued his fundraising haul this week, raking in $2 million as of Thursday evening, the Cruz campaign told msnbc.
The numbers exceed the campaign’s own goals, but hint at both Cruz’s strengths and his likely weaknesses as a candidate.
In 26 hours, the Cruz campaign said it had raised $1 million dollars -- their fundraising goal for the week. While the $2 million total to date is a sizable number it pales in comparison to the fundraising feats completed by candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Ron Paul who all raised $6 million on day one of their 2008 campaigns for the White House.
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Cruz skipped the traditional route of launching a presidential campaign – candidates usually campaign for weeks, launch an exploratory committee and campaign some more, before announcing an official presidential bid – and his first week fundraising numbers may reflect that, but the numbers also signal the grassroots movement that will buoy Cruz: 95% of his donors gave less than $250 dollars each, a spokeswoman told msnbc. Cruz's campaign hopes his bold entrance into the race as the first, and so far only, official candidate will help bolster his early fundraising, the Washington Post noted.
Cruz’s candidacy will depend on those grassroots voters – in his announcement, the Texas tea party darling identified evangelical voters as a key voting block.
“Today, roughly half of born-again Christians aren't voting,” he said, speaking at evangelical Liberty University. “They're staying home. Imagine instead millions of people of faith all across America coming out to the polls and voting our values.”