Columbia, South Carolina
An ice cream social at a supporter’s home. A meet-and-greet with veterans. A roundtable with sheriffs. An night rally at a sweltering barbecue joint and a winding photograph line afterward.
Ted Cruz’s Monday schedule in South Carolina appeared lots like his itinerary a decade in the past when he was campaigning for president here. But the Texas senator isn’t operating once more — at the least not but.
Rather, Cruz had traveled to the early GOP major battleground to stump for state Attorney General Alan Wilson, a longtime ally who won Tuesday’s Republican runoff for governor.
From allies to adversaries, previous supporters to potential rivals, and the first voters who might finally determine his destiny, there’s near-unanimous settlement within the Republican Party on this: Cruz is laying the groundwork for an additional presidential marketing campaign, even when it means taking over Vice President JD Vance or whoever President Donald Trump finally endorses.
“I would be shocked if he doesn’t run,” mentioned Bob Vander Plaats, an influential conservative determine in Iowa who was a nationwide co-chair of Cruz’s 2016 marketing campaign. Cruz and Vander Plaats reunited final month when Cruz went to marketing campaign for Republicans in Iowa.
Cruz stays a prolific fundraiser with ties to a few of the social gathering’s largest donors. He efficiently endorsed Wilson and one other current gubernatorial contender, Rick Jackson in Georgia, over Trump-backed rivals. And he has constructed a substantial following within the new media ecosystem driving Republican politics.
Speaking to NCS in South Carolina, Cruz waved off 2028 hypothesis, saying he’s “all in” on serving to Republicans save their congressional majorities within the midterms.
“I will be on the road a lot campaigning for that, and there’ll be plenty of time to worry about future elections in the future,” he mentioned.
But Texas Sen. John Cornyn recently observed to Semafor that Cruz “wants to be the next president.” Vance, Trump’s almost definitely political inheritor, told Megyn Kelly that Cruz is “clearly” operating.
A brand new Cruz marketing campaign would take a look at whether or not there’s house within the Republican Party for somebody who straddles the ideological divide between the pre-Trump and post-Trump GOP. While Cruz has solid himself as a dependable White House ally within the Senate, he has additionally voiced skepticism of Trump’s tariff strategy, publicly questioned the administration’s targeting of ABC late evening host Jimmy Kimmel, and has remained critical of Big Tech whilst prime Silicon Valley leaders construct their relationships with the president.
Perhaps most importantly, Cruz has emerged as one of the vocal Republican critics of the US-Iran peace deal. Vance is main the US delegation in negotiations with Tehran.
Cruz has lengthy been open about eager to run for president once more, calling his 2016 run “the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.” He mentioned in 2023 that he would “fully hope and expect to run again at some point.” This week, Cruz will handle the Road to Majority Conference, an annual gathering of Christian conservatives placed on by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. It’s a room stuffed with the sorts of voters and leaders that when embraced Cruz’s presidential aspirations however moved to Trump.
“His profile has only risen,” mentioned Vander Plaats. “He’s on Fox News a lot, he’s got a top-rated podcast. People hear of him, they see of him. They view him as a fighter for the agenda.”
That podcast, “Verdict,” airs a number of instances every week and typically reaches greater than one million listeners, offering a uniquely massive platform throughout the social gathering. On an episode final week, Cruz extensively scrutinized the Iran negotiations, saying Trump is getting “very poor advice” and that giving Iran access to up to $300 billion could be a “very serious mistake.”
Within Trump’s internal circle, a Cruz 2028 marketing campaign is handled as all however sure, rankling White House allies who’re intent on defending the president’s energy to dictate the way forward for MAGA and the social gathering. The frustration spilled into the open final week as Trump allies — together with the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — pounced on Cruz for attacking the Iran deal and accused him of posturing for future major voters.
“No one takes him seriously as a contender,” mentioned Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and a type of Cruz critics. “Will he run? Absolutely, because his ego is 10 times bigger than the state he represents. He has no support. But he’ll have a war chest and an apparatus because he’s done this before.”
Even those that stood with Cruz in 2016 now acknowledge the climb he faces to recapture the hearts of GOP voters.
“A decade is a long time in between runs, and a lot has changed,” mentioned conservative speak present host Steve Deace, an early Cruz backer in 2016 when he hosted a present on Iowa’s airwaves. “The ultimate voice that matters is Chief MAGA: Trump. We’re all watching, but it’s really a primary of one.”
A 2028 marketing campaign by Cruz could be one other audacious transfer in a political profession marked by them.
Cruz arrived within the Senate in 2013 as a conservative insurgent, a profile he parlayed right into a 2016 presidential marketing campaign that gained the Iowa caucuses and posed essentially the most critical risk to Trump’s march to the nomination. While Cruz and Trump fought bitterly then, they eventually patched things up and grew nearer, together with throughout Cruz’s closer-than-expected 2018 Senate race towards Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
Now, Cruz chairs the highly effective Senate Commerce Committee and touts himself as Trump’s “strongest ally” within the Senate. Trump has known as Cruz a very good buddy however has additionally reminded his former rival who ended up the highest canine in 2016.
“We had quite a campaign against Ted and it worked out quite nicely,” Trump mentioned final yr when requested about Cruz’s 2028 ambitions.
On commerce, Cruz has mentioned he’s “not a fan” of tariffs and warned final yr that Trump’s sweeping international commerce warfare could possibly be “terrible for America.” On overseas coverage, Cruz has lengthy mentioned he occupies the “third point of a triangle” the place the opposite factors symbolize interventionism and isolationism.
Cruz is a fierce defender of the US-Israel alliance within the face of rising MAGA skepticism. He has confronted antisemitism head-on throughout the GOP and has accused influential figures like Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson of giving oxygen to bigotry.
“I am going to do everything I can to fight and defeat this poison, and we will not let it destroy our party or our nation,” Cruz mentioned throughout his current go to to Iowa, the place he known as Carlson “the single most dangerous” individual pushing antisemitism on the precise, a cost Carlson denies. The two sparred on Carlson’s podcast final yr, which included a heated back-and-forth over Israel.
Reached by cellphone Wednesday, Carlson mentioned of Cruz’s remarks: “I’ve never met a single person in 50 years who likes Ted Cruz or agrees that a senator’s job is to defend a foreign country. I think Ted is speaking to and for his donors, and I assume they’ll be the only ones voting for him. But he’s welcome back on my show anytime.”
On every of these points, there’s daylight with Vance. The vp has vocally defended Trump’s tariff policies, has been extra skeptical of overseas intervention — a stance that Trump has examined at instances — and he has downplayed the idea that antisemitism is “exploding” on the precise. He has declined to criticize Carlson, suggesting he’s a precious a part of the political coalition that elected Trump in 2024.
Vance sarcastically remarked in a current interview that if he doesn’t run in 2028, the “committed, non-interventionist, America-First Ted Cruz” might carry his banner contained in the social gathering.
“He’s clearly running for president,” Vance added, extra significantly.
Mike Gonzalez, a South Carolina pastor who co-chaired Cruz’s 2016 marketing campaign there, mentioned Cruz might run in 2028 as a “strict constitutional conservative versus that nationalism, populism, kind of candidate that Trump has” impressed.
Another Cruz 2016 supporter, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, mentioned Cruz “leans toward old-school fiscal conservatism” and was not essentially being “hawkish” towards Iran however “the angst and concern of the American electorate … because we don’t trust Iran.”
Both agreed {that a} major between Vance and Cruz may gain advantage the social gathering. Gonzalez mentioned he would “love to see (Cruz) and JD Vance debate toe-to-toe.”
“I truly believe that this is a healthy discussion that the party must have and that the conservative movement should have going forward, post-President Trump,” Rodriguez mentioned.
Deace anticipates Cruz’s help for Israel would stay well-liked with many older evangelical voters which are key to nominating contests in Iowa and South Carolina, in addition to with some prime GOP donors like Miriam Adelson, who has a longstanding relationship with the Texas Republican.
Deace mentioned the difficulty of Israel “gives Ted a lane to at least justify running again and it’ll be enough for Ted to be welcomed back as a candidate.”
“But he’s going to have to show he has broader MAGA appeal to win,” Deace added.
The problem could possibly be seen earlier this yr on the Conservative Political Action Conference held simply outdoors Dallas. There, Cruz outlined a imaginative and prescient for a Republican Party that mixes Trump’s populism and bedrock GOP ideas like small authorities, low taxes and restricted laws.
The home-state crowd warmly acquired their junior senator. But when CPAC organizers polled attendees on their choose for president in 2028, Vance was the overwhelming favourite adopted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Just 1% picked Cruz.
Cruz’s endorsement of Wilson made him a key determine in a political debacle for Trump in South Carolina. Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette within the major, however after she superior to a runoff towards Wilson, Cruz endorsed Wilson and a pro-Cruz tremendous PAC launched TV advertisements boosting him.
Evette sought to make Cruz’s skepticism of the Iran peace deal a legal responsibility for Wilson, calling on him to sentence Cruz’s “attacks on President Trump.”
Trump introduced two days later he could be supporting each candidates within the runoff. Cruz downplayed any tensions with Trump over the competition, telling NCS they “agree on the vast majority of races, and I was very pleased to see that the president agreed with me on this one.”
Alumni of Cruz’s 2016 marketing campaign attended a few of his stops with Wilson, and Cruz deployed some traces that had been staples of his previous stump speech.
“God bless the great state of South Carolina,” Cruz mentioned after taking the microphone Monday night in Columbia, addressing a packed barbecue restaurant. He drew applause whereas reviving his name to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and put a “padlock” on its headquarters, a promise he made repeatedly in 2016.
Cruz paid homage to South Carolina repeatedly and bantered with native reporters about his barbecue preferences. “The best sauce is no sauce at all,” he opined.
During an earlier cease in Sumter, a city about an hour outdoors Columbia, an viewers member requested Cruz about his curiosity in serving on the Supreme Court. He gave the response he has given for years: While it’s “flattering” to be talked about that means, he might by no means withdraw from “political fights” the best way a justice would have to.
After the Columbia occasion, Robert Alt, a 78-year-old retiree from close by Chapin, mentioned it was “too early” for 2028 hypothesis however mentioned Cruz is amongst a number of potential candidates that he likes.
“I think that right now Vance, I would say, is probably the chosen one,” Alt mentioned, “but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be chosen.”
The attendees urged they noticed a pathway for Cruz even when Vance runs. Jim Hartman, an 85-year-old insurance coverage agent from Columbia, praised each Cruz and Vance however mentioned he thought Cruz was a extra dedicated conservative who would “stand firm.”
Michael Alfaro, a 40-year-old Wilson supporter who got here to the Columbia rally, mentioned Cruz’s resolution to endorse Wilson when Trump was solely backing Evette “is going to be remembered here” and might even function a “roadmap” for the Texas Republican sooner or later.
Why? “Because he’s going to run for president,” Alfaro mentioned.