Sen. Ted Cruz is privately sounding out potential supporters for another presidential run while making repeated trips to Iowa, openly acknowledging his White House ambitions and drawing contrasts with Vice President JD Vance, an early Republican favorite for 2028.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is quietly testing support for another presidential campaign, asking political contacts whether they would join a potential 2028 bid while stepping up travel to Iowa and sharpening his criticism of Vice President JD Vance.
The three-term senator has visited Iowa three times this year while promoting a new book and appearing on podcasts, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Cruz’s spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.
His maneuvering became more visible Wednesday when he was asked during a podcast how important President Donald Trump’s endorsement would be in the 2028 Republican presidential primary.
“It carries weight, but I think the voters are going to make their own determination,” Cruz said.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted the exchange, while The Independent interpreted the remark as Cruz preparing for the possibility that Trump could back someone else.
Trump has not formally endorsed a successor.
Asked about a potential Cruz campaign in late August, Trump called the Texas senator “very talented” but stopped short of endorsing him.
Cruz has been more explicit about his own ambitions.
“It’s no secret that I want to be president. I ran for president,” Cruz said last month during a podcast hosted by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Asked directly whether he would seek the White House again, Cruz replied, “Time will tell.”
Cruz has also increasingly drawn policy distinctions with Vance, who leads early polling of the potential Republican field.
“JD negotiated the MOU with Iran. That was a terrible deal,” Cruz said of the agreement that later collapsed.
The emerging rivalry comes as Trump has privately spoken favorably about Vance’s political future.
Trump told donors this summer that “at the end of the day, we need to elect JD.”
Vance’s allies, according to the Journal, have privately dismissed the idea that Cruz would pose a serious threat to the vice president in a Republican primary.
Steve Bannon, who served as chief strategist on Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, was even more dismissive of Cruz’s prospects.
“He’s going to have plenty of money, but unfortunately he’s not a populist, he’s a throwback to the neocon and neoliberal policies of the old Republican party that’s essentially been destroyed,” Bannon said.
Cruz nevertheless appears to be laying groundwork in Iowa, a state that has traditionally played an outsized role in Republican presidential politics.
He appeared last Saturday as the special guest at the BBQ Bash hosted by Republican Senate nominee Ashley Hinson.
During his speech, Cruz emphasized his role in policies likely to feature prominently in the next Republican presidential campaign.
“No tax on tips, I wrote that,” Cruz told the crowd.
He also said he pushed to include the child investment accounts known as Trump Accounts in last year’s tax legislation.
The senator did not appear to command the field among all Iowa Republicans in attendance.
Voters interviewed by the Journal at the event named Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio before Cruz when discussing their preferred 2028 candidates.
Rubio, however, removed himself from consideration in May and publicly said he would support Vance.
“I’ve said publicly, and I’ll say it again, I’ll be the first person to sign up and support him,” Rubio said of Vance.
That leaves Cruz potentially positioning himself as one of the most prominent Republican alternatives should Vance enter the race.
Cruz previously sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, emerging as Trump’s strongest late-primary rival before ending his campaign after losing the Indiana primary.
Their relationship was deeply contentious during that campaign but improved significantly after Trump entered the White House, with Cruz becoming a frequent supporter of the president’s agenda.
The developing 2028 maneuvering now puts Cruz in a delicate position.
He is openly acknowledging that he still wants to be president while signaling that Republican voters, rather than Trump alone, will determine the party’s next nominee.
At the same time, he is beginning to challenge Vance on policy and present himself as the architect of Republican economic initiatives that could become central to the next presidential campaign.
With three Iowa visits already completed this year, private inquiries about assembling a campaign team and increasingly direct public discussion of his ambitions, Cruz appears to be moving beyond hypothetical interest and toward an early test of whether there is room for him in a Republican field that could otherwise consolidate around Vance.
Original article
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