Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) has made a big splash in Washington D.C. and the nation despite being a freshman Senator. From pushing for constitutional conservative principles in Congress to defeating leftists such as Senator Bernie Sanders in fierce verbal sparring on live television, from nearly winning the GOP nomination for President in 2016 to now standing by President Donald Trump in both up and down times, it’s been a busy first term for Senator Cruz.
Among the 100 Senators in our nation’s upper chamber and the 51 Republicans currently there I have to say I believe Senator Cruz holds a somewhat special place in our national imagination. He is rather young, currently at only 47-years old despite his seemingly many years in the public spotlight already. On a more important note, he has also mastered an intellectual clarity that has often long eluded many evangelists of what can often be rather complex constitutional ideology.
He has inspired new generations of jurists, including at and beyond his frequent appearances at events of the Federalist Society, to countless other activists and citizens in his eloquent advocacy of our nation’s fundamental principles of God-given individualism, federalism, and liberty of all sorts – including religious, Second Amendment, and more.
As Senator Cruz seeks re-election this November it is clear conservatives have strong reason to hope and work for him to return to our nation’s capital this upcoming January. As we’ve seen with many elections across the country, sometimes even the most seemingly safe political situations can result in wild surprises.
Senator Cruz himself recently himself warned against complacency, stating "[w]e do have a real race and we are taking it deadly serious.” Some polls have shown that undoubtedly it is better to be safe than sorry, as the average 6 point lead Cruz currently has over his opponent Beto O’Rourke is too close for comfort and a big ways away from Cruz’s 16-point win in 2012 or Trump’s 9-point win there in 2016.
In my own personal experience as a lawyer and in the legal field I’ve seen firsthand how Senator Cruz has inspired many, both young and old, who are either now in the future making an impact in our courts, legislatures, government agencies, businesses, or civil society in favor of constitutional conservative values.
While a lot of the day-to-day work of the modern United States Senate is difficult to ascertain or monitor in the public eye, particularly in the day of trillion-dollar omnibus bills, Senator Cruz has lived out his words as well. From battling Obamacare even years after it has seemingly left the public eye to having been one of those to lead the charge to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, he has clearly been pushing the right levers as well.
Undoubtedly Senator Cruz’s time in D.C. has made him many opponents on both sides of the aisle as well. For example, several years he called Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor in a move generally considered unbecoming of the august body.
Some conservatives still hold grudges against him for his fierce final months battling then-candidate Trump for the nomination and then refusal to endorse until weeks after his widely-criticized stunt at the RNC Convention. He is also a favorite of the left to hate, due to a mix of both his prominence and his firmness and unapologetic nature in his conservative beliefs.
No one is perfect and particularly when in such a spotlight at such a turbulent time as these past few years have been. I was no fan of his RNC actions, serving as a Trump campaign chair and Republican Party state official at that harsh time, but politics is chaotic and Senator Cruz remains a vibrant figure with still a lot to offer our country.
It seems strange in some ways that Texas is showing some polling uncertainty but we live in generally unusual times. After all, who’d have thought the long-lost GOP hope of Pennsylvania would finally go red in 2016 let alone states such as Ohio, Michigan, or Wisconsin?
I am no Texan but have had the pleasure of knowing many. Senator Cruz is clearly a fighter who has made an enormous contribution to inspiring conservatives across the nation in recent years and I hope he will continue to do so.
The people of Texas are blessed by such a Senator, and we shall see in just about three months if they – hopefully – send Senator Cruz back once again to this place we call Washington, D.C. to fight for them and us all.