Ted Cruz and His Donor Base

With Ted Cruz heading toward a 2016 run for President, I wanted to take a look at who his important supporters are, you know, the ones that speak with dollars.  The ones that he will really listen to.

From Open Secrets, here is a look at his top twenty contributors for the period from 2013 to 2014:

Note the $69,350 from Goldman Sachs?  Cruz's wife, Heidi Nelson Cruz, is a managing director at Goldman Sachs, Ted Cruz's fourth biggest donor.  While Cruz took a strong stance against Obamacare, he lives in a health care world that most Americans can only dream of, one that has gold-plated health care coverage worth at least $20,000 according to the New York Times.  On top of that, according to the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, the cost of the health insurance is tax deductible, meaning that if the Cruz's are in the highest income bracket, their tax deduction would be more than $8000 annually.  Just in case you are curious, you can get information on the entirety of the compensation and benefits package for Goldman Sachs employees at this link.

Here is a table showing the top five industries that have contributed to Mr. Cruz over the period from 2011 to 2014:

Now, let's go line-by-line through Mr. Cruz's top three donors.

1.) Club for Growth: This is a conservative political action group that promotes public policies that adhere to a fiscally conservative economic agenda.  It was founded in 1999 and claims to be the only organization that is willing to take on any Member of Congress on policies that fail to uphold basic economic conservative principles.  It has over 100,000 members throughout the United States.  Their goals include the repeal of Obamacare, the reduction of income tax rates and replacing the current tax system with a flat tax.  Here is a look at the group's beneficiaries in the 2012 election cycle showing that Mr. Cruz was their second highest recipient:

Of the $4.25 million spent by Club for Growth, Mr. Cruz received 16.6 percent.

2.) Senate Conservatives Fund:  The Senate Conservatives Fund is an independent PAC that is dedicated to electing "true conservatives" to the United States Senate.  Its goal is to get Senators to enact policies that will restore America's greatness through cutting spending and balancing the budget without raising taxes, repealing Obamacare, enforcing immigration laws, banning bailouts and defending the Second Amendment of the Constitution.  It funds itself through individual donations from grassroots donors.  Here is a look at the group's beneficiaries for the 2012 election cycle which also shows that Mr. Cruz was their second highest individual recipient:

You will note that Mr. Cruz received well less than Josh Mandel (R-OH) who received just over $5.23 million.  Despite spending $18.87 million on the Ohio Senate race, Mr. Mandel lost to Sherrod Brown who spend $24.58 million.

3.) Woodforest National Bank:   Woodforest National Bank is a Texas-based bank formed in 1980.  The bank has more than 750 branches in 17 states and is privately owned with nearly one-third of its branches located in Texas.  Here is a look at the bank's beneficiaries for the 2012 election cycle:

Mr. Cruz was their top recipient, receiving $88,000 of the bank's $141,587 contributed to candidates during the 2012 cycle.  In fact, he received just over five times the amount that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney received in 2012.  

Now, let's take a brief look at how much Mr. Cruz spent in 2012 to get elected to the Senate compared to his competition:

Mr. Cruz spent $14.03 million to get elected compared to only $510,439 by his main Democratic competitor, Paul Sadler, who received 40 percent of the vote compared to Mr. Cruz's 57 percent.  Here is a look at Mr. Cruz's current career fundraising efforts and spending from 2011 to 2014:

A total of $13.694 million or 74 percent of the total raised comes from individual contributions and 9 percent comes from PAC contributions.  Only $843,000 or 5 percent of the total comes from self-financing.

Looking through the list of Mr. Cruz's donors, we get a pretty good idea of what his political backers will be expecting of him should he actually manage to pull off a win in November 2016.

And, just in case you've forgotten, here is a screen capture showing Ted Cruz's birth certificate showing that he was quite clearly born in Canada, albeit to American parents: