Why has Ted Cruz’s campaign spent thousands of bucks at beauty salons?

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has blown through thousands in campaign funds at beauty spas over the years, raising questions whether the spending violate laws banning personal use of campaign funds, HuffPost reports.

The online publication’s review of Federal Election Commission filings from 2016 through October show the Ted Cruz for Senate campaign committee has dropped more than $9,000 at salons over that period. Cruz faces a tight race against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a North Texas Democrat, who barely trails him in the polls. The Cruz camp’s expenditures include $310 in June and $876 in February spent with a Houston-based makeup artist, FEC reports show. The campaign has spent cash with the same business more than a dozen times since 2018.

HuffPost ponders whether the expenses were for Cruz himself — who “doesn’t appear to wear makeup or maintain an expensive haircut” — or his wife Heidi, who’s been known to serve as a surrogate for the senator’s reelection efforts.

That question remains unanswered by the campaign, which didn’t respond to HuffPost’s inquiries about the frequent salon sessions.

Richard Briffault, an expert on campaign finance at Columbia Law School, told the HuffPost the question whether the expenditures cross a legal line comes down to the FEC’s “irrespective test.” Under that rule, expenditures a candidate would rack up irrespective of whether they’re running for office are considered improper personal spending.

“It is personal use,” Briffault said. “And the question is, is it the kind of personal use that [they] would be doing irrespective of whether or not he was running for office?”

The questions about the spa expenditures are only the latest to surface about how the Cruz campaign spends and receives campaign money. 

Cruz faces growing scrutiny of a controversial syndication deal for his podcast that’s pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into a super PAC focused on his reelection. Watchdog groups have filed at least two complaints with the FEC arguing the deal appears to be illegal.

In August, the treasurer of Cruz’s reelection campaign confirmed in a letter to federal officials that it took dozens of illegal donations during the second quarter which it pledged to refund.

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This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2024.