WASHINGTON 鈥� U.S. Sen. is facing a formal campaign finance complaint over money sent from the company that syndicates his podcast to a political action committee supporting his reelection bid.
The complaint, filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, alleges Cruz may have improperly directed radio distribution and marketing firm iHeartMedia to send over $630,000 to the Truth and Courage PAC, a group dedicated to Cruz鈥� reelection effort. The amount would exceed the $5,000 limit an officeholder is permitted to solicit for a super PAC.
End Citizens United and the Campaign Legal Center filed the complaint and are seeking a formal FEC investigation into the payments.
The terms of iHeartMedia鈥檚 payments are unclear. The company鈥檚 agreement with Cruz for distributing his podcast is not public. But the complaint asserts that Cruz could have violated campaign finance laws if he directed iHeartMedia to give to the super PAC by exceeding the solicitation limit.
The complaint also asserts the payments were improperly reported as 鈥渙ther receipts鈥� rather than campaign contributions. 鈥淥ther receipts鈥� is generally reserved for interest or income on assets already owned by a PAC.
鈥淏y soliciting or directing $630,850.08 of iHeartMedia鈥檚 corporate funds to or on behalf of TCP in connection with his 2024 election, Cruz appears to have brazenly violated these federal campaign finance laws,鈥� the complaint reads.
Cruz鈥檚 podcast, 鈥淰erdict with Ted Cruz,鈥� has been the center of ethics questions against the Republican senator for years. The Campaign Legal Center filed another complaint against Cruz in 2022 when iHeartMedia picked up his podcast, asserting it violated rules barring lobbyists from giving gifts to senators. The company, headquartered in San Antonio, that year.
Cruz is also the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees communications, media and broadcasting.
Cruz contends that he makes no money from the thrice-weekly podcast and that he volunteers his time as would any guest speaker on network news. The Senate Ethics Committee that it had found Cruz had not acted improperly.
But Cruz鈥檚 claim appeared to be contradicted earlier this year when Forbes and The Houston Chronicle on the company鈥檚 payments to the Truth and Courage PAC.
Truth and Courage PAC states on its website that its 鈥渇ocus is ensuring that Ted Cruz is re-elected to the United States Senate in 2024.鈥� The group has raised and spent over $7 million since its creation, including over $2 million raised in this election cycle. The group works independently from Cruz鈥� campaign and is legally barred from coordinating strategy with him.
Cruz is facing a competitive race against U.S. Rep. , D-Dallas, who has raised over $21 million in his bid to unseat Cruz. Democrats are eager to flip Texas as they face a challenging Senate map this cycle with most Republicans up for reelection this year in comfortably red states.
Cruz and his supporters are on guard after the margin in 2018 against former U.S. Rep. Beto O鈥橰ourke. Cruz has raised over $46 million this cycle in his official campaign committee.