HOUSTON — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is keeping his powder dry from talk of a 2028 White House run as he campaigns for GOP colleagues on the ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, but that could soon change.
The two-term senator and 2016 presidential candidate told the Washington Examiner in an interview Monday that while he’s not ready to make any announcements about another potential campaign, “that conversation is coming.”
“My focus today is 100% on the midterms, and I am spending every waking moment fighting to help save our Republican Senate, our Republican House,” Cruz said in a wide-ranging phone interview. “The conversation about 2028 will begin after the midterms. That conversation is coming. It’s coming for any potential candidate. But the right time to engage in it is when the midterms are behind us.”
Cruz is among the list of Republicans with widespread name recognition who are expected to launch a campaign to succeed President Donald Trump. And as he crisscrosses the country in a campaign blitz for Republicans, Cruz faces an early test of his abilities to turn out the base in what he warned could be a bruising midterm election cycle for the party similar to that of two years into Trump’s first term in 2018.
But even as Cruz downplays detailed talk of a potential 2028 run, he sounds like someone who is laying the groundwork for a presidential campaign.
He offers frequent reminders of his efforts on the trail to boost other Republicans. He and his super PAC have contributed millions of dollars to boost Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his would-be Senate colleague, against Democrat James Talarico. Cruz recently campaigned for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) in Alaska, and his travel plans in the remaining days before the election include several other states with competitive Senate races such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, and Kansas.
“In the last 10 years, there is no Republican in the country who has campaigned for more Senate candidates, House candidates, and gubernatorial candidates than I have,” Cruz said. “Every two years, I devote real time to helping other Republicans prevail.”
Cruz has also rejected the notion Vice President JD Vance would be an automatic front-runner to succeed Trump and questioned his ability to coalesce the party to win the nomination.
CRUZ SAYS ‘I WANT TO BE PRESIDENT’ AFTER REJECTING VANCE 2028 CONSENSUS
Cruz projected optimism that Republicans can thwart Senate Democrats from flipping the Lone Star State, a battleground seat held by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that Paxton is vying to fill. He called the bitter GOP primary runoff between Trump-backed Paxton and Cornyn “brutal” that caused “damage” to Paxton’s general election efforts.
“The Left is energized. They’re angry, and they absolutely hate President Trump,” he said. “If regular folks stay home, if the only people who show up are the angry Left, then we would end up with a really bad result on Election Day.”