How Ted Cruz lost the 2024 Republican Presidential Nomination to Mike Pompeo and Tom Cotton.
HOUSTON, Texas, March 14, 2024—Sen. Ted Cruz today announced that he is withdrawing from the presidential race after suffering lopsided defeats in every primary and caucus state thus far, including a stinging defeat in his own home state of Texas.
Cruz’s candidacy never really took off and was stillborn almost from the start because of controversial remarks he made in 2021 and 2022.
Cruz harshly criticized Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021. He said the January 6 protest was a “violent terrorist attack.”
Cruz quickly retracted that remark after being called to account by Fox News host Tucker Carlson. However, his presidential candidacy never recovered. Out on the campaign trail, Cruz’s depiction of the January 6 protest was used against him by his GOP rivals.
Mike Pompeo. “Let’s be clear,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the Feb. 22, 2024, debate at the Citadel in South Carolina.
Senator Cruz called Trump supporters “violent terrorists.” That depiction is wrong. It is inaccurate. It is a lie. And it is slur against millions of good and decent Americans whose only crime was to support President Trump. The senator ought to be ashamed.
Cruz said the remark was a one-off and used only to criticize those January 6 protesters who assaulted the police. CNN, though, found that Cruz had used that controversial depiction “at least 17 previous times in official written statements, in tweets, in remarks at Senate hearings, and in interviews.”
Cruz’s rivals for the nomination said that Cruz was being disingenuous. They said that Cruz is a Harvard-trained lawyer who always chooses his words very carefully.
“He knew what he was saying. It was no mistake and it was no accident. Those reprehensible remarks reflect a lifelong habit the Senator has of always trying to have it both ways,” Pompeo said.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), meanwhile, reminded voters that former President Trump called Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” during the 2016 GOP presidential primary race.
Trump has remained officially neutral in the 2024 presidential contest. However, his comments about Cruz have helped to sink Cruz’s campaign.
Three weeks ago, for instance, the former president told reporters that, although neutral, “I will tell you: Ted has a lot to answer for. A lot. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
Pompeo and Cotton are both military veterans, and they spent all winter hammering away at Cruz’s lack of military service.
“Senator Cruz, Secretary Pompeo, and I are all Harvard Law alumni ,” said Cotton during the March 3 debate in Huntsville, Alabama.
But only Mike and I left the Ivy League to serve in the U.S. military out on the frontiers of freedom. Ted, by contrast, is a career politician whose sole pursuit has been political power for himself and his cronies.
Defense and foreign policy issues became top campaign issues last fall after Russia invaded Ukraine and China attacked Taiwan’s electrical grid. The intermittent blackouts have persisted for months and are seen as the prelude to China’s attempted annexation of Taiwan.
Iranian proxy forces, meanwhile, have attacked Saudi Arabia, and Tehran has announced that its nuclear weapons capability is “non-negotiable.”
“Two years ago,” said GOP political consultant Whit Ayres, “no one thought defense and foreign policy issues would be the big, defining issues in this race. But things have gotten so bad so quickly that voters can’t help but take note and be concerned.”
Working class GOP primary voters, he added—”especially the increasing number of Hispanic Republicans and African American military veterans—they give pride of place to military service. That matters to them.”
Elitist. In addition, Cruz was hurt by his wife’s work for Goldman Sachs. His rivals used this work to portray Cruz as an out-of-touch elitist more interested in catering to the well-heeled and the wealthy than the working class voters who compose an increasing share of the GOP primary electorate.
Pompeo and Cotton wished Cruz well. Pompeo said that, if elected, he would consider appointing Cruz attorney general. Cotton said Cruz would make a good Supreme Court appointee.
Feature photo credit: Ted Cruz via the Dallas Morning News, courtesy of NBC News Dallas-Ft. Worth.