CLIVE, Iowa—Ted Cruz isn’t hiding his presidential ambitions—and he is taking some digs at the presumptive front-runner along the way.
The 2028 contest hasn’t started yet, and there is still a midterm election in November. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading in early polls of potential Republican nominees, is campaigning for candidates in tough races and fundraising for the party.
But Cruz, the Texas senator and firebrand conservative, is already putting in the legwork in Iowa, hitting the
CLIVE, Iowa—Ted Cruz isn’t hiding his presidential ambitions—and he is taking some digs at the presumptive front-runner along the way.
The 2028 contest hasn’t started yet, and there is still a midterm election in November. Vice President JD Vance, who is leading in early polls of potential Republican nominees, is campaigning for candidates in tough races and fundraising for the party.
But Cruz, the Texas senator and firebrand conservative, is already putting in the legwork in Iowa, hitting the podcast circuit and embarking on a book tour. He is also quietly asking people if they would be interested in working on his 2028 bid, according to people familiar with the requests.
A spokeswoman for Cruz declined to comment.
Cruz told MSNOW that the party hasn’t coalesced around Vance. “I’ll certainly be part of the discussion,” he said. Several times this year, he has condemned rising antisemitism on the right, and specifically targeted Republicans who, like Vance, haven’t separated themselves from conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, who has hosted Holocaust deniers on his podcast.
Vance’s allies have privately dismissed and scoffed at Cruz running, arguing he wouldn’t be a serious threat to the vice president if he chose to run.
Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are seen as President Trump’s 2028 favorites, and the president has been known to poll staff and donors about whom they would like to see at the top of the ticket. When asked if he will pursue the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, Vance is coy.
Those close to Vance say he is focused on the midterms and not talking about a presidential campaign. Some say they aren’t sure the 42-year-old, whose wife just had a fourth child, will even run for president in a year that might be more favorable to Democrats. Senior GOP strategists expect Vance to have much of Trump’s seasoned political apparatus behind him should he decide to run for president.
Rubio has been deferential, saying both publicly and privately that he won’t challenge Vance.
Asked about the importance of Trump’s endorsement for 2028 on a podcast released Wednesday, Cruz said: “It carries weight, but I think the voters are going to make their own determination.”
He also took a shot at the vice president’s role negotiating the memorandum of understanding that aimed to end the Iran war but has since fallen apart. “JD negotiated the MOU with Iran. That was a terrible deal,” Cruz said.
Asked about Cruz, Steve Bannon, a chief strategist for Trump’s 2016 election, said: “He’s going to have plenty of money, but unfortunately he’s not a populist, he’s a throwback to the neocon and neoliberal policies of the old Republican party that’s essentially been destroyed.”
Cruz has been to Iowa three times this year. Last Saturday morning, he stopped by the farm-to-table restaurant chain Machine Shed to meet with local pastors. Then, at GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson’s BBQ Bash, he mingled in the VIP section and then ventured into the food line to shake hands.
As a band blasted “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and Rep. Hinson (R., Iowa) played her fiddle on stage to Dolly Parton classics, voters here suggested plenty of other candidates before they landed on Cruz, the event’s special guest.
“We have a very deep bench. It could be Marco Rubio or JD Vance, or there was another name being floated around, and I’d support any of them,” said Gary Pitts, age 78, from central Iowa.
“Oh, I like either JD Vance or Marco Rubio, I think they both have a good shot at it,” said Josh Howray, a 54-year-old truck driver from Rockwell City, Iowa.
Republicans running for Congress and governor in Iowa are facing some of the toughest races in years, in part due to a climate that many candidates are blaming on the Trump administration, including the monthslong war with Iran and a trade dispute with Canada. Hinson recently called Trump’s decision to boost beef imports a bad idea.
A tough midterm election for Republicans could make GOP voters more favorable to an outsider, though it isn’t clear if that outsider is Cruz, who is in his third Senate term.
Cruz, 55, came to Congress in 2012, as the Tea Party movement gained political traction. He ran for president and won the Iowa caucuses in 2016 and held on in the crowded race as it winnowed to just him and Trump. Trump dubbed him “Lyin’ Ted.” The two men have since become friends, and Trump promoted Cruz’s new book on Truth Social this week.
During Vance’s visit to Iowa in May, he campaigned for Rep. Zach Nunn and met with key Iowa conservatives backstage. He championed year-round, nationwide sales of E15 biofuel, a popular position in Iowa. Cruz has said such a move would hurt oil refiners, which are plentiful in Texas, and should be tied to broader changes in the renewable-fuel standard.
Voters here play a unique role in picking the presidential candidate and expect to get to know them. For 2028, the first time in 12 years, Trump won’t be on the ballot, and they are expecting to have a lot of good choices.
“I do love JD Vance; I love Rubio. I know Cruz. He’s run before; he’s a great man also,” said Edie Stebbins, a 78-year-old retiree from Cumming, Iowa.
Scott Bates, 61, from West Des Moines—wearing a shirt that said “Dads Against Daughters Dating Democrats”—said he supported Cruz 10 years ago, but he was undecided about whether he would back him again. “We’ve got JD, we’ve got Rubio, Ted Cruz. I like Ron DeSantis too. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be good too,” he said. “We’ve got a pretty deep bench this time around.”
If the speech Cruz gave to the crowd on Saturday is any indication, Cruz will campaign on the same policies that Vance is likely to claim too. “No tax on tips, I wrote that,” Cruz told the crowd. He said that he was the one who pushed for investment accounts for children, known as Trump Accounts, to be included in the tax bill passed by Republicans last year.
Long after Iowa’s governor and senators had left the building, while volunteers were packing up chairs, Cruz remained. He took photos, shook hands and signed Hinson’s posters. His staff hovered nearby, aware he was running late to his next engagement.
Asked why she thought Cruz had made multiple stops to Iowa this year, Courtney Gallagher, 36, of Waukee, Iowa, laughed.
“He must like the steak,” she said. “Iowa steak’s better than Texas steak.”
Write to Natalie Andrews at natalie.andrews@wsj.com
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