Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced he will not enter the presidential race in 2024.
Cruz will instead seek a third term in the United States Senate, according to a statement the Republican made to The Dallas Morning News.
After ending his presidential bid in 2016, Cruz had alluded to potentially seeking the country’s highest office in the future. However, as 2024 approaches, Cruz has said his focus was on keeping “Texas red” and that he expects Democratic interest groups to spend $100 million to oppose his campaign.
“After Donald Trump, there is no Republican in the country that Democrats want to beat more than me,” he told The Houston Chronicle on Feb. 13.
Cruz won his second term in the senate in 2018 by just 3%, defeating Beto O’Rouke. O’Rouke raised $80 million during the race, which CBS News reports was the most expensive in the Senate’s history. During the same year, Democrats won two of Texas’s seats in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as 12 seats in the state House.
President Donald Trump announced on Nov. 15 that he would be seeking re-election in 2024 at an event at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.
“Just as I promised in 2016, I am your voice. I am your voice,” he said during his speech. “The Washington establishment wants to silence us, but we will not let them do that.”
“What we have built together over the past six years is the greatest movement in history because it is not about politics,” Trump continued. “It’s about our love for this great country, America, and we’re not going to let it fail.”
Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley announced on Feb. 14 that she will challenge Trump in 2014. Haley served as United Nations Ambassador during the Trump administration.
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership,” Haley said in her announcement video. “The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again.”
Haley had previously told the press in April of 2021 that she would not challenge Trump if he entered the 2024 presidential race.
Trump’s campaign sent an email on Feb. 15 titled “The Real Nikki Haley” citing times the Republican has supported sending additional resources to Ukraine, opposed the construction of a wall on the nation’s southern border, and voted against mandating people use public restrooms that correlate with the gender on their birth certificate.
A number of high-profile Republicans, including Senator Rick Scott of Florida, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, and Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have all said they will seek reelection and not the presidency next year.
Cruz has also predicted that President Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee for president and that the competition to win the party’s endorsement will be intense.
“I’m here to tell you, Joe Biden’s not going to run in ‘24,” the senator said on Jesse Watters Primetime. “I do not believe he will be the Democrat nominee in ’24.”
“Listen, when Democrats want to kill each other, they have the New York Times on speed dial number one. … I think all the ambitious Democrats are measuring the drapes … and so these knives are coming from every direction,” Cruz said.
