The Republican freakout over the prospect of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz losing his re-election bid just keeps getting bigger and better. Over the weekend, Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney told GOP insiders that Cruz could lose and Politico reported that all the way back in July, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had made a special trip to the White House to beg for Donald Trump to rally support for Cruz in person.
The freakout is real, but it’s also the signal to rally the troops—and by troops I mean tens of millions of dollars:
“We’re not bluffing, this is real, and it is a serious threat,” Cornyn, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said in an interview. “If Ted does his job and we do ours, I think we’ll be fine. But if we have donors sitting on the sidelines thinking that, ‘Well, this isn’t all that serious,’ or ‘I don’t need to be concerned,’ then that’s a problem.”
Cornyn is holding a fundraiser for Cruz, but much of the money will be in outside spending, with the Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity among the groups expected to join in. Already:
On Thursday, the Senate Conservatives Fund sent an email to supporters asking them to finance Cruz. The Family Research Council is planning a multistop October bus tour through Texas. And this week, Tea Party Patriots is expected to start a phone, text and mail campaign bolstering the senator.
Big-money Republicans may yet be able to bail Cruz out, but they never expected to have to spend big to keep Texas, of all places. Meanwhile, this race could be funneling money and effort away from other key Senate races and helping Democrats’ chances at gaining ground, despite an abysmal map.
Help Beto O'Rourke keep terrifying Republicans. Can you chip in $3 to help him beat Ted Cruz?