A seven-month, $220 million surge of spending on behalf of mainstream Republican candidates has yielded a primary battle dominated by Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, two candidates reviled by most of the party’s leading donors.
Now, as they approach a pivotal and expensive stage of the campaign, the two insurgent candidates — who have won the first three contests — appear to be in the best position financially to compete in the twelve states that will vote on “Super Tuesday,” according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Saturday.
Mr. Cruz is the best financed candidate in the Republican race, beginning February with $13.6 million in cash on hand. Mr. Trump, a billionaire, has raised millions of dollars from small donors and lent himself millions more, including nearly $5 million in January, a month in which he paid out more than $11.5 million, the most sustained spending of his presidential bid so far.
The reports also showed that the candidates backed most lavishly by wealthy establishment-leaning Republican donors burned through much of the cash they accumulated last year, beginning the month deeply depleted. Those remaining in the race on Sunday, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, had less than $7 million in cash between them.
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.@tedcruz: I'm the only one who "has beaten Donald Trump" https://t.co/2LIceWRi6t https://t.co/gW5Maq3V5o
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 21, 2016
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