Bad news for Jeb Bush: He may be the son and brother of oilmen-turned-presidents and a one-time favorite of the oil and gas sector, but he’s been losing out on campaign donations as people in the industry have started investing in someone more likely to win the White House: Ted Cruz.
Cruz leads all presidential candidates in contributions from employees of oil and natural gas companies through the end of 2015, according to the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. His coffers have been boosted by scores of smaller gifts and $25 million to super-PACs that back his campaign from two sources: energy investor Toby Neugebauer and Dan and Farris Wilks, brothers who made their fortune in the fracking boom.
It’s not an entirely surprising shift: Despite the Bush family’s deep ties to fossil fuels, Jeb’s decline in the polls is making donations to him look like a big waste. And Cruz is a Texas senator after all — a Texas senator who doesn’t believe in climate change but does believe in generous donations from the fossil fuel lobby. Since his 2011 senatorial campaign, Cruz has taken almost a million dollars from the oil and gas industry.
But Cruz is hardly the only candidate taking oil money. More from Bloomberg:
Cruz led in direct contributions from oil and gas company employees with $675,000, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings by the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington. Bush, who led the money chase in June, was second with $420,600. Clinton followed with $227,000.
That’s right: Hillary Clinton comes in third.
Her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, got only a comparatively tiny handful of donations from oil and gas employees — but even the socialist enemy of Big Oil wasn’t at the bottom. Donald “I’m No. 1” Trump came in dead last in this ranking. Maybe if there’s one thing money can’t buy, it’s a billionaire.
