Ted Cruz has strongly suggested that he wants to be the Republican nominee for the 2028 presidential race.
Vice President JD Vance is widely believed to be the frontrunner to become Trump’s successor, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio jostling for the position, too.
Trump has not given his public blessing, though. Now, the Texas senator has all but confirmed that he wants a piece of the action.
Just days after telling MS Now that he doesn’t believe that JD Vance is the inevitable 2028 Republican nominee and being vague about his own ambitions, Cruz, who unsuccessfully ran against Trump for the nomination in 2016, opened up a bit more.
“It’s no secret that I want to be president,” Cruz said on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s podcast.
Asked if he intends to run, the 55-year-old said, “Time will tell.”
“I will say, this is a bug that history has proved is rarely ended,” he remarked on his White House ambitions. “It is a permanent and often fatal bug.”
It comes after he was asked Tuesday on MS Now’s Way Too Early whether the Republican Party had already lined up behind the vice president to be the presidential nominee.
“Oh, no!” Cruz exclaimed. “There’s going to be a full discussion about who we are and what we believe.”
The MAGA senator said he will support the most conservative candidate who can win.
“I look at number one, what’s their record? Have they been a conservative? Have they been principled?”
When asked whether he would be a part of those discussions, Cruz responded vaguely, “There will be time to figure that out.”
The host, Ali Vitali, asked if the 2028 candidate would have to be MAGA.
“They have to have a path to win. And so there is no Never Trump lane,” Cruz said.
The Texas Republican praised Donald Trump, calling him an “extraordinary president” and “fearless” but said, “I wish sometimes there was more message discipline and focus.”
In 2016, he finished second to Trump in the Republican primaries, ahead of Rubio.
Vance has repeatedly said that he is focused on his job as VP. However, his wife, Usha Vance, said she is keeping an “open mind and open heart” about their political future.
In an interview with Fox News’ Fox & Friends, which aired on Wednesday, she said: “Whatever it is that he feels is the right thing for him to do, we’re going to have a good time doing it. We will make the best of it in the best possible way.”
Vance and Cruz have been contacted for comment.
