This story was originally published on nationaljournal.com on July 22, 2016 With a one-two punch, Ted Cruz effectively launched his candidacy for the 2020 Republican presidential nomination. On Wednesday night, the senator from Texas took to the stage and urged party members not to stay home in November but to “stand and speak and vote your conscience,” a veiled suggestion that his own conscience would not allow him to vote for Donald Trump. This was obviously a gamble that Trump will lose the general election or, if elected, would be a disaster, with Cruz a very likely primary challenger after his first term. Then, at a Thursday morning Texas delegation breakfast event, Cruz doubled down on that bet: “I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.” Cruz, who has developed a reputation as something of a political pit bull, then helpfully added that he was not a “servile puppy dog.” Though one can slice and dice the Republican Party a lot of different ways, right now the most salient division is
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.