Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz is an American politician who is currently serving as United States Senator from Texas, a position he was elected to in 2012.

Some of his notable activities in the U.S. Senate include his involvement in the government shutdown, comments on President Barack Obama, calling Mitch McConnell a liar and clashing with several fellow Republicans. Cruz established a reputation in the senate, characterized by few allies. In response to this, Cruz has said that he has been vilified by the "Washington cartel".

On March 23, 2015, Cruz announced that he was running for president in the Republican primaries of the 2016 presidential election. Cruz had particular appeal to social conservatives and won 11 states, though found his campaign ill-equipped to deal with the candidacy of Donald Trump. On May 3, 2016, after a loss in Indiana, Cruz announced he was suspending his campaign.

Obamacare and Government shutdown
During the summer of 2013, Cruz participated in what was dubbed a nationwide tour, which The Heritage Foundation sponsored, to raise awareness of an effort in congress to defund Obamacare, otherwise known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Cruz's main arguement in the event of a government shutdown as that one would not harm the American people or the Republican Party. Cruz began a 21-hour speech on September 24, 2013, standing on the floor of the senate in regards to the Affordable Care Act and addressing a continuing resolution attempting to avoid the shutdown and continue funding the government, Cruz promising to continue orating until he was "no longer able to stand." His speech was the fourth longest in the history of the United States Senate.

Afterward, Cruz became commonly associated with the shutdown and was seen as a force behind it. His poll numbers also saw a decrease, though he became more well-known. On October 11, Cruz gave a message to other Republicans against accepting the Affordable Care Act and calling it a "train wreck", adding that people were "energized" in trying to do away with the law. The Houston Chronicle afterward indicated that Cruz was not of the standard set by his immediate predecessor Kay Bailey Hutchinson. Cruz was then assessed by Republican strategist Mike Murphy as aiming to "start a wave of Salem witch trials in the G.O.P. on the shutdown and Obamacare, and that fear is impacting some people’s calculations on 2016." Cruz denied that he had threatened to shut the government down, instead blaming the event on President Obama and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The Healthcare.gov website was later launched, having technical problems, Cruz calling it a "disaster" and then mentioning that the site "just isn't working", requesting Kathleen Sebelius to resign. In February 2014, Cruz voiced his opposition to the debt limit being increased and critiqued other Republican politicians for what he called fearing the truth. On March 24, Cruz posted a survey on his Facebook page where he asked, "Obamacare was signed into law four years ago yesterday. Are you better off now than you were then?" Cruz requested that users comment with either "YES" or "NO", more than 47,000 comments afterward expressing support toward the Affordable Care Act. However, Cruz's spokeswoman stated the results were in actuality "a manufactured, concerted effort from people on the left making comments days after the original post was put up. Maybe a better use of their time would be advocating for an Obamacare website that actually works before the last day of enrollment."

Friction with other Republicans
Cruz was vocal about his disliking with the work of Speaker of the House John Boehner. On July 24, 2015, during a speech on the floor of the Senate, Cruz accused Mitch McConnell of "a flat out lie" in regards to the Export-Import Bank of the United States. The accusation drew criticism for not being a characteristic associated with the Senate.

Stances on Democrats
He has made negative comments on President Obama since entering the Senate. After the death of Antonin Scalia, Cruz denied that Obama should appoint a new justice and instead wait for the following president to do so given that it was an election year.

Cruz garnered negative attention for mocking Vice President Joe Biden on the eve of his son Beau Biden's funeral and several days after his death. When asked if he was aware of Beau's passing, Cruz delivered sympathetic comments toward both the Vice President and his wife Jill, though walked away when asked why he had made the comments. On June 3, 2015, Cruz apologized on his Facebook account: "It was a mistake to use an old joke about Joe Biden during his time of grief, and I sincerely apologize. The loss of his son is heartbreaking and tragic, and our prayers are very much with the Vice President and his family." The following year, on March 5, 2016, during an appearance at the Gridiron Dinner, Biden made comments regarding Cruz: "Ted Cruz? An inspiration to every kid in America who worries that he’ll never be able to run for president because nobody likes him. He’s running. And look, I told Barack, if you really, really want to remake the Supreme Court, nominate Cruz. Before you know it, you’ll have eight vacancies."

Cruz has made negative comments about Hillary Clinton since the beginning of his presidential campaign. He has also extended his negative comments to fellow Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, though admitted the pair agreed on some issues.

Presidential campaign
Cruz announced that he was running for presidency on March 23, 2015 during a speech at Liberty University, becoming the first major announced candidate of the election cycle. Cruz polled in the middle among the eventual seventeen candidates during the summer, the front-runners at the time being Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, though this changed after Donald Trump entered the field on June 16 and took place in the first presidential debate. Cruz saw a brief increase in his polling, which further increased as the year started heading into the winter.

Cruz had stayed away from attacking Trump unlike most of the other contenders on both sides, praising him for raising awareness of illegal immigration and welcoming him into the race. However, during January, there was a shift in the tone between the two candidates, Cruz questioning Trump's conservative credentials while Trump in turn responded that he was unsure Cruz was even eligible to be running. Though facing opposition from the state governor, Cruz won the Iowa primary on February 1. He came in third place in New Hampshire shortly afterward, having predicted that he would not perform well within the state based on polling. Notably, Cruz met Bill Clinton on February 27 and had a short conversation with him.

Cruz won several states on Super Tuesday; his home state of Texas, Alaska and Oklahoma. Though marketing his campaign as a politician who had been disparaged by the establishment in Washington, commentators noted Cruz received support from others within his party following the suspension of fellow senator Marco Rubio's campaign on March 15, after losing his home state of Florida to Trump, Lindsey Graham, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney voicing their support for Cruz in the days following the suspension.

Throughout the month of April, Cruz secured delegates through conventions in North Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming, as well as garnering a victory in the state of Wisconsin. These wins received controversy for not being voter-based, though gave credence to Cruz having a chance of winning the nomination even though Trump was leading in delegates still, the plan being to prevent Trump from getting to the 1,237 required delegates to become the Republican nominee at the Cleveland convention in July and having a brokered convention where he would have the establishment's backing and be voted as the nominee in favor of Trump by the delegates in attendance. Cruz announced former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina as his vice-presidential candidate in the event that he win the nomination and a week later, the Indiana primary took place on May 3 and saw another victory by the Trump campaign, Cruz after which suspending his campaign.

Following candidacy
A week after the campaign suspension, Cruz returned to the U.S. Senate on May 10, with various commentators wondering what his role would be there. Cruz said he would reconsider his decision to suspend his campaign should he win the Nebraska primary, though mentioned it was unlikely. Indeed, the Nebraska primary was won decisively by Trump shortly after these comments were made. Cruz indicated on May 27 that he would not support Trump having an abortion stance that did not align with the traditional Republican platform. It was reported at the end of the month that Cruz would be campaigning for Republicans in upcoming elections that year to mend fences within the party. On June 7, Cruz was asked whether or not he would be voting for Trump during an interview, answering that he was "watching and assessing".

On June 12, after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting in which 50 people were killed in a gay nightclub by a lone gunman, Cruz released a statement calling on both Democrats and Republicans to forget about political correctness and come together against jihadists. On June 16, Cruz responded to the 15-hour Democratic filibuster in the Senate in support of gun control legislation, stepping on the floor himself and stating that he believed this was an issue of terrorism rather than one of gun rights. On June 20, Cruz endorsed Darryl Glenn and said that it was important for the United States Senate for checks and balances in order to prevent the President of the United States from abusing their power, regardless of party affiliation. Notably, Glenn spoke of creating party unity by supporting the GOP nominee, Cruz not saying anything and merely getting a glass of water. Cruz himself gave a speech where he blamed President Obama for the Orlando nightclub shooting, reasoning that Omar Mateen had not been tracked properly.

Since the end of his presidential campaign, Cruz has been speculated as a potential 2020 presidential candidate. His last campaign ad, which premiered on his YouTube account shortly after his presidential campaign ended, was interpreted as being the first of ads directed toward a 2020 presidential candidacy.