UPDATE: BOOM!
This week, Ted Cruz begged for donations on Fox News while complaining that Allred is out fundraising his 2018 challenger, former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, by leaps and bounds. Via Rolling Stone:
“The Democrats are coming after me, they are gonna spend more than $100 million this year, George Soros is already spending millions of dollars in the state of Texas,” Cruz told Sean Hannity. “My opponent a liberal Democrat named Colin Allred, is out raising Beto O’Rourke, my last opponent, 3 to 1. They are flooding millions of dollars into Texas — and the reason is simple. You remember my last reelection, it was a 3-point race. I won by 2.6 percent.”
Cruz’s fundraising concerns may explain a very shady financial arrangement the senator has with iHeartMedia, the hosting platform of his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz. Last week, The Houston Chronicle reported that the radio network paid out $630,850 to a Cruz-affiliated super Pac, Truth and Courage. According to FEC data reviewed by the Chronicle, the six-figure sum represents about a third of the PAC’s fundraising haul since 2023. The LoseCruz PAC, a political action committee challenging the senator’s reelection, first reported a $214,752.98 transfer from iHeartMedia to Truth and Courage in March.
A Cruz campaign spokesperson told the Chronicle that the senator “appears on ‘Verdict’ three times a week for free.” A representative from the company said the funds were the proceeds of sales for the podcast’s advertising inventory, and that Cruz “volunteers his time to host this podcast and isn’t compensated for it.” But if iHeartMedia is sending massive checks to a PAC affiliated with his reelection campaign, is there really no benefit to Cruz?
Huh. So IHeartMedia has to be aware they're skirting campaign finance law, right? At the urging of a U.S. Senator, no less. I can tell you that Congress is historically reluctant to touch these setups, probably because there are members on both sides enmeshed in these shady deals.
Let's see if anything happens with this one.
Meanwhile, Cancun Cruz just can't understand why Colin Allred is gaining on him!
