Ted Cruz quietly builds toward 2028 presidential bid, drawing fire from Trump allies

Sen. Ted Cruz has begun privately recruiting supporters for a 2028 presidential campaign, positioning himself against Vice President JD Vance, a move that has already drawn sharp pushback from key figures in Trump's orbit.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the three-term Texas Republican has been quietly asking people whether they would join a 2028 campaign. Cruz has traveled to Iowa three times this year, worked the podcast circuit, and promoted a new book, the standard checklist of a candidate who wants to run without yet saying so out loud.

Cruz has not filed a campaign committee or made a formal announcement. But his public statements leave little room for ambiguity. On Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's podcast in late August, Cruz was direct:

"It's no secret that I want to be president. I ran for president."

Asked whether he would run again, he offered two words: "Time will tell."

On a separate podcast released Wednesday, Cruz addressed the question of whether a Trump endorsement would matter in 2028. He acknowledged its significance but stopped short of treating it as decisive:

"It carries weight, but I think the voters are going to make their own determination."

Newsmax reported that Cruz declined to rule out a 2028 bid on NBC's Meet the Press, telling the host, "There will be a time for that conversation." Trump, when asked about a potential Cruz candidacy, offered measured praise: "I would say that he's very talented. He's a very good friend of mine. I think he might do that, yeah."

Vance leads the field, but Cruz sees an opening

Vice President Vance leads early polling of the Republican field for 2028, and several prominent figures have already lined up behind him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ruled himself out of the race in May and pledged his support:

"I've said publicly, and I'll say it again, I'll be the first person to sign up and support him."

Trump himself has signaled a preference. He told donors this summer that "at the end of the day, we need to elect JD", though he has not formally backed a successor.

Cruz is betting that the lane is not as closed as the frontrunner's allies believe. He has staked out ground on foreign policy, particularly on Israel and Iran, where he sees daylight between himself and Vance. At a BBQ Bash event hosted by GOP Senate nominee Ashley Hinson in Iowa last Saturday, Cruz delivered a speech claiming authorship of key populist-flavored policies.

"No tax on tips, I wrote that."

Cruz also took credit for pushing to include Trump Accounts, child investment accounts, in last year's tax bill. The strategy is clear enough: wrap himself in Trump's policy legacy while arguing he was the one who built pieces of it.

But Cruz has also gone on offense against Vance directly. He called the vice president's memorandum of understanding with Iran "a terrible deal," a characterization that has drawn its own controversy. Donald Trump Jr. publicly called out Cruz for what he described as misrepresenting the agreement, adding a personal dimension to the rivalry.

Bannon dismisses Cruz as a relic of the old GOP

Steve Bannon, chief strategist on Trump's 2016 campaign, offered one of the sharpest assessments of Cruz's prospects. He did not question Cruz's fundraising ability, he questioned his relevance to the party Trump remade:

"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."

That line captures the core tension in Cruz's candidacy. He is running inside a party whose base has moved decisively toward economic populism and skepticism of foreign entanglements, and he is doing so while positioning himself as more hawkish on Iran than the sitting vice president. Cruz ran as an outsider insurgent in 2016, finishing as runner-up to Trump. Whether the 2028 electorate still sees him that way is an open question.

Vance's allies have privately dismissed the prospect of a Cruz candidacy, the Wall Street Journal reported. And the early signals from Iowa voters suggest Cruz has ground to make up. Republicans at the BBQ Bash event named Vance and Rubio before eventually landing on Cruz when asked about their 2028 preferences.

Fox News reported that Cruz declined to deny the 2028 rumors when pressed on "The Faulkner Focus," instead pivoting to his Senate record: "Reporters are going to initiate headlines that get clicks and get eyeballs. I got a job, it's representing 31 million Texans. And I'll tell you right now, the wins we are getting are historic."

The deflection is a familiar one. Cruz wants to keep the door wide open without stepping through it prematurely. The broader foreign policy debate he is trying to frame, particularly around Iran and the administration's diplomatic approach, gives him a substantive platform. Whether it gives him a coalition is another matter.

Cruz faces a party that may have moved past him

The New York Post reported that Cruz has pushed back on the assumption that Vance is the automatic frontrunner, arguing that the GOP has not coalesced around any single candidate. Cruz framed the 2028 primary as an ideological reckoning: "There is going to be a full discussion about who we are and what we believe."

That framing suits a candidate who wants to run on ideas rather than proximity to power. Cruz has outlined debates he believes the party must have on foreign policy and economic direction, terrain where he can draw contrasts without directly attacking the Trump administration's record.

The Washington Examiner noted that Cruz has stopped short of a definitive announcement even as his public statements have grown increasingly transparent. On Meet the Press, pressed for a yes or no, he fell back on the same line: "As I said, there will be a time for that conversation."

The broader dynamics inside the Republican Senate caucus add another layer. Cruz has positioned himself as a fighter on legislative priorities, but the 2028 primary will test whether Senate credentials carry weight with a base that increasingly values executive action and populist instincts over legislative maneuvering.

Meanwhile, Vance has been building crossover appeal that extends beyond the traditional Republican base, a dynamic that could make Cruz's path even narrower.

Cruz's spokeswoman declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report.

Ted Cruz has never lacked ambition or willingness to fight. What he lacks, so far, is evidence that the Republican Party he wants to lead in 2028 is the same one he nearly won in 2016.