On Saturday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas unveiled his plans for the 2024 elections.
“I’m running for re-election in the Senate. I’m focused on the battles in the United States Senate,” Cruz said after addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, according to the Washington Examiner.
“We need to stand and fight against these policies that are inflicting so much harm on Americans across this country,” he said.
Ted Cruz said on Saturday that he would seek a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2024, though he also did not rule out running for president. https://t.co/6cOj9ZKjdM
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) November 20, 2022
Cruz was asked if 2024 might offer Republicans a rematch of the epic 2016 battle between Cruz and former President Donald Trump, who last week announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president.
“You can consider whatever you like,” Cruz said. “There will be plenty of time to discuss 2024 presidential. I get that that is a lot of fun in the media to do. There will be plenty of time for that.”
On Saturday, Cruz touched upon the quality of leadership on the GOP side of the Senate aisle.
Cruz was among those who participated in last week’s failed effort to thwart the re-election of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as minority leader on Wednesday.
“We need a real debate about how are we going to lead during the next two years in the minority in the U.S. Senate,” Cruz told the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to the Texas Tribune.
“And the question that I posed to Mitch McConnell and our leadership was very simple: ‘Is there anything on which we are willing to fight?’ I stood in front of the conference, and I said: ‘Listen, I’ve traveled all over the country. I’ll tell ya: People are dispirited and demoralized because they say that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight.’ And there’s a reason for that, which is that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight,” he said.
This is a fight worth fighting.
This is a country worth saving.
We’re in the fight of our lifetimes. #RJCinVegas pic.twitter.com/Bmp5l1LQwB
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 20, 2022
Cruz said that the presidential contest for the GOP’s 2024 nomination will be contentious as he spoke about Trump and his early announcement of his candidacy.
“There are some people who want him to do that. There are some who don’t. I think that process will shake out. We’ve seen at this conference here there some people clearly positioning to run against him. I don’t think he’ll run uncontested. I think there will be candidates that run against him,” Cruz said, according to Fox News. “But we’re very early in this process. There’s plenty of time for the debates and discussions.”
Cruz noted that blaming Trump for the failure of the Republican Party to gain all it hoped in the midterm elections is misplaced.
“There’s lots of people who want to point the finger at Donald Trump and point to the quality of candidates,” Cruz said.
“Candidate quality matters. I will say, some of the nominees, particularly some of the gubernatorial nominees who raised next to no money, ran no TV commercials and didn’t really run a campaign, dammit, this is serious business,” Cruz said.
“If you can’t raise money and run a campaign, step aside and let the adults do the work that needs to be done. So I’m frustrated when my party fields candidates that have no realistic chance of success,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.