Texas Standard · Raul Alonzo · September 8, 2026
The Wall Street Journal reports Texas’ senator has been sounding out staffers for a 2028 presidential campaign.
By Michael Marks September 8, 2026 10:52 am Government & Politics , Texas Standard Original Gabriel C. Pérez / KUT News
Sen. Ted Cruz is not up for reelection until 2030. But Texas’ junior senator nonetheless appears to be hitting the campaign trail, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal .
Cruz recently campaigned for other Republicans in Iowa, a traditional testing ground for would-be presidential candidates because of its early primary. Cruz has also reportedly asked potential staffers around Capitol Hill if they’d be interested in joining his 2028 presidential campaign.
Natalie Andrews , White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, spoke to the Texas Standard about Cruz’s plans.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Natalie Andrews: I’ve been hearing these inklings for a while. And as someone who watches the White House, I just felt like when I heard that Ted Cruz was going to Iowa, that this was the chance to go out.
So he was campaigning and this is something he’s really done this year, is really campaign for candidates and endorse and get involved. And he was campaigning for the GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson. She did a big barbecue bash. She played the fiddle.
He was the featured speaker and he did not disappoint. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and he shook hands. They were cleaning up chairs and Ted Cruz was still there, shaking hands. The governor had left, the Senate candidate, everyone had bailed — Joni Ernst, Chuck Grassley, they were long gone. Ted Cruz is staying there, shaking hands, taking selfies, making eye contact. And I was like, “oh, there’s something here.”
That is fascinating. Usually they’re whisked away — you know, they jump in their car and they’re gone, but here he is making that sort of personal investment.
You know, presidential candidates — or potential presidential candidates — will often travel to states like Iowa or New Hampshire to sort of feel out their chances before actually deciding to take the plunge. Were you able to get any sense of how serious Cruz’s presidential ambitions for 2028 might be at point?
I think I’ve talked to folks who said he’s kind of poking around to see like if staff might be interested, like people might be interesting in joining him for 2028, that he is kind of putting out feelers.
He’s also been public. He did an interview on MS NOW, which is not exactly known for its Republican audience, but he did an review on MS NOW where he said that he wanted to be part of the discussion for 2028 and firmly said the party is not coalescing around JD Vance.
So it’s also like his interviews, he’s definitely keeping the door open. He also did Sean Hannity’s podcast recently and firmly shut the door on wanting to be a member of the Supreme Court.
Now, let’s dig a little deeper there. What might distinguish Ted Cruz from some of the other 2028 GOP hopefuls? We’ve mentioned JD Vance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has seemed to be talking the same direction.
You know, I think it’s a really good question because almost uniformly when you talk to strategists or people that are looking to play in 2028 somehow, they see this as, you know, who is going to be the best heir to Donald Trump? They don’t think that there is a anti-Trump lane to run in and win in early primary states.
And so who is the best heir to the Donald Trump legacy? Is it the man who he chose to be vice president? Is it a secretary of state or a senator who ran against him at one point and have since come into the fold? I don’t know.
I do know that the voters in Iowa, though, were very eager to talk about it, which was really fun because so often people are like, “I don’t want to talk until after the midterms.” But these guys, these guys were all in.
Okay, so let’s talk about that retail politics side. When you saw those interactions, what did voters in Iowa that you spoke with have to say about Cruz?
You know, I talked to several people who said, oh, I supported him in 2016. He seems funnier now. He seems more relaxed now. I think he came across more personable, but maybe voters in Iowa, when they are seeing him speak a lot, that they’re taking away that there’s more authenticity there than maybe comes across on TV.
It also might be hard for Vance to politic a lot in Iowa. I think the worst-case scenario for him is if the Senate ends up 50-50 with Republican control and he’s breaking ties right and left for judges or something.
So there’s some dynamics there that could go in his way or that voters can pick what they like. And if they see something more frequently, they can make that choice.
Do you think Ted Cruz is seeing favorable signs that might encourage him to take the plunge?
You know, there’s an old saying, and hopefully members of the U.S. Senate can forgive me for this, but there’s a saying that, you know, every Senator wakes up and sees the next president of the United States in the mirror. And I don’t think that Cruz is exempted from that.
I think that in order to put yourself out there, you have to believe you can get it. He’s put himself out there before. He believes that he does have good ideas. It’ll remain up to the voters to decide whether or not that’s true.
But I think he thinks that there is a lane for him, that he’s a not an isolationist. He’s kind of made that point kind of a dig at JD Vance, who is known to be more critical of so-called forever wars. But he’s also not like a hawk that wants to bring the U.S. into conflicts.
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