HOUSTON — After a tragedy like the shooting in Boulder, Colo. a lot of claims get posted to social media. So what’s true and what’s false? That’s where our Verify team comes in.
You may have seen a post about Sen. Ted Cruz. After he said proposed gun regulations would not stop the violence, a claim circulated reporting he was the top recipient of contributions from gun rights donors.
So is it true? Here is what our Verify researchers found.
First our source – OpenSecrets.org. It is a non-profit, nonpartisan research group that tracks lobbying and donations released by the Federal Election Commission.
It found that during the 2018 election cycle Ted Cruz was the biggest recipient of money from gun rights backers with $311,151. For comparison the next highest recipient was Martha McSally in Arizona who got just over $228,000.
When it comes to the money Cruz received it is not just from the NRA. The National Rifle Association gave $9,900 to Cruz running up to the 2018 election. The $311,151 number includes donations from other PACs and individual gun rights backers giving more than $200.
So while we can Verify that yes, Cruz received over $300,000 from gun supporters, not all that money is from the NRA and some could be from backers who simply align with his politics.