Ben Carson’s campaign said Wednesday that it raised at least $23 million in the fourth quarter, outpacing Ted Cruz’s fundraising total of nearly $20 million and likely placing the retired neurosurgeon’s haul at or near the top of the GOP fundraising race.
Dean Parker, Carson’s finance chairman, provided the figure to CNN, though the exact amount won’t become public until late next month, when the next round of Federal Election Commission reports are filed. As of Wednesday night, Carson and Cruz were the only GOP candidates to disclose how much they hauled in over 2015’s final three months.
The campaign also declined to say how much cash it had on hand. Throughout the race, it has spent a significant amount of money to fundraise by relying on direct mail and list purchases to build a low-dollar donor list.
But the fundraising figure, coming after a third quarter in which the campaign led the GOP field with $20.8 million, likely comes as a relief to Carson’s supporters at a time of concern about the stability of his campaign.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that Carson’s campaign was in crisis, and last week, the candidate himself pushed back against reports that said he was considering a major shakeup to his campaign staff, including senior staff assignments.
A CNN/ORC poll released last week found Carson tied for third place with Marco Rubio at 10%, well behind GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Cruz.