{"id":276648,"date":"2026-05-03T02:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/276648\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T02:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T02:34:13","slug":"texas-sen-ted-cruzs-iowa-visit-fuels-presidential-bid-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/276648\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Sen. Ted Cruz\u2019s Iowa visit fuels presidential bid speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ten years after celebrating his caucus victory at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Sen. Ted Cruz <\/a>returned to the Des Moines area Friday, fueling chatter about a potential 2028 presidential bid.<\/p>\n

Cruz told the audience of conservative Christians that the Republican party is \u201cwinning historic victories\u201d under President Donald Trump\u2019s second administration. \u201cWe have won more victories than at any time since we have been alive,\u201d he said, pointing to low immigration crossings at the southern border and a federal ruling on Friday banning abortion pills to be mailed to patients<\/a>, a major victory for anti-abortion groups. <\/p>\n

The senator\u2019s presence in Iowa is significant since it is where the first presidential nominating contests happen in the country<\/a>, but he didn\u2019t tease plans of running. <\/p>\n

Instead he used his speech to address anti-Semitism and blamed Democrats for it. <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 10 years ago, anti-Semitism began rising on the left and the Democrat Party leadership looked the other way and hoped it would go away,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cI truly believe this is an existential crisis and here\u2019s why: Anti-semitism is a gateway drug to anti-capitalism and anti-Americanism.\u201d <\/p>\n

The senator called out two former Trump supporters: Tucker Carlson and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have both become some of the president\u2019s most vocal critics. He called them \u201cself-appointed, outspoken influencers who are pushing anti-Ssemitism on the right\u201d who have \u201clost their ever-loving minds.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cruz won<\/a> the famed Iowa Republican Caucus in 2016, narrowly beating Donald Trump at the onset of an intense series of contests in which he would ultimately come in second to the eventual president. As a first-term, 45-year-old senator at the time, Cruz barnstormed the Hawkeye State by building out a massive field operation, visiting each of the state\u2019s 99 counties and earning the endorsement of influential Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vaander Plaats.<\/p>\n

The Texan was the first major Republican candidate to launch a presidential bid in 2015 and went on to win 11 states in the primaries. Cruz\u2019s run catapulted him to national fame, buoyed by his close association with the Tea Party wing of the Republican grassroots base, appeal to evangelicals and a significant donor network.<\/p>\n

A decade later, Cruz is now a bearded third-term senator with powerful insider status \u2014 chairing the Senate Commerce Committee \u2014 while retaining his grassroots connections, co-hosting the most popular podcast among politicians. Speaking to the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in the suburb of Clive, Cruz did not discuss his 2016 victory in the state.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s name is frequently discussed as a potential 2028 contender, alongside Trump Cabinet members including presumed frontrunners Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. <\/p>\n

The upcoming presidential field will be the first without Trump since 2012. That presents an opportunity for the GOP to chart a course beyond the president who has thoroughly remade the party since his first term.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s visit was Cruz\u2019s first to an early state \u2014 Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada, which hold presidential nominating contests first in the primary calendar \u2014 since his Senate re-election in 2024. He was scheduled to appear at Iowa Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird\u2019s annual Barn Bash outside of Des Moines in August but was unable to attend. <\/p>\n

Leading up to the 2016 election, Cruz began making stops in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as early as 2013. He spoke at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition\u2019s spring kickoff \u2014 the same annual event as Friday\u2019s \u2014 in 2015, shortly after launching his presidential bid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7883,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-276648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-ted-cruz","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}