Ted Cruz makes fundraising pitch for campaign during debate with Bernie Sanders | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

With a year and a half to go before an expensive reelection race back home in Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz harnessed the limelight of a nationally televised tax reform debate Wednesday night to raise money for his campaign.

Cruz took the stage in Washington with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and framed his party’s tax proposal as a choice between Democrats who want to raise taxes and Republicans who want to lower them.

At one point, Cruz also took the opportunity to direct CNN viewers to his campaign website, which is set up to accept donations for his reelection in 2018.

Cruz said that in his 2016 presidential race he received 1.8 million individual contributions.

“But you know what? Tonight, if people go to tedcruz.org, it might be billion if it works out,” said Cruz.

Cruz has more than $6 million stockpiled for that race but was outraised by his likely Democratic opponent, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, earlier this year. O’Rourke also came within striking distance in the most recent fundraising quarter, which ended Sept. 30.

Sanders, who called Cruz’s assessment of the GOP plan “totally fraudulent,” also took a swing at the senator’s fundraising tactics.

“The Trump-Republican tax proposal before us today is being pushed by Senator Cruz’s campaign contributors [and] the Koch brothers,” Sanders said.

Sanders pointed out Cruz was one of a handful of Republican lawmakers who attended the Koch network’s fall retreat in New York last week. At that event, leaders threatened to cut off funding for GOP lawmakers if they weren’t successful on tax reform.

Cruz hit back at liberal donors, saying “the George Soros’ of the world don’t pay the death tax.”

Republicans want the estate tax repealed.