Elections 2020FederalStatewide NewsCornyn, Crenshaw, Cruz Lead Fundraising in Final Quarter of 2020

Though not as urgent for the strategies of campaigns in districts yet to be redrawn, the finance results give some indication of what to be expected in the 2022 midterm elections and beyond.

Predictably, the fundraising totals for the end-of-year period — ranging from November 24 through December 31 — were not nearly as high as the results for the pre-election and post-election filings, which combined covered October 1 through November 23.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was the only federal incumbent in Texas who did not appear on the ballot in the last general election and whose recent filing covered the entire fourth quarter.

Despite no ballot appearance or opponent, Texas’ junior senator raised $2.9 million in the final three months of 2020.

Comparatively, Sen. John Cornyn reported raising $239,000 on his end-of-year report, bringing his total haul for the fourth quarter to $4.7 million.

The only other candidates in the state to top Cruz’s fundraising were Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX-02) and Cornyn’s Democratic opponent, MJ Hegar.

Crenshaw reported raising $343,000 on his end-of-year report for a total fourth quarter of $4.5 million.

Hegar, the Texas Democrat who ran for the top statewide position last fall raised the most out of any candidate at the tune of $9 million, though only $20,000 of that was reported in the end-of-year report.

Notably, though Cruz and Crenshaw are the two Republicans with the most amount of cash-on-hand going into 2021 — at $4.6 million and $1.9 million, respectively — one congressional Democrat tops them both.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett raised $103,000 during the end-of-year period, but currently has $5.2 million cash-on-hand, more than any other Texas incumbent at the federal level.

First elected in 1994, Doggett has represented the Austin area continuously for three different congressional seats that have changed through redistricting.

Since the 35th Congressional District was created in 2012, Doggett has never faced a significant electoral challenge, consistently winning against Republican candidates with over 60 percent of the vote.

With redistricting this year, Doggett’s large war chest will make it even simpler for him to continue representing Travis county however the addition of new districts from the 2020 census will change the lines in the next election.

Four other congressmen from Texas also have war chests topping the million-dollar mark: Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) with $1.6 million, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15) with $1.4 million, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX-08) with $1.1 million, and Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19) with $1.1 million.

Cornyn, who spent over $30 million during the last election, has seen his total cash-on-hand dwindle down to $633,000, though his term will not expire for another six years.

The total fundraising reports for all Texas members of Congress can be found in the table below.

Note that while everyone else reported for the period between November 24 and December 31, the totals for Cruz are for the period from October 1 to the end of 2020.