Ted Cruz: Endorsed by Rand Paul

Daily Events

If a Republican beats President Barack Obama in the fall and Republicans regain control of Congress, it is imperative that what happened during the last decade when Republicans were in power does not happen again. Yet, conservative representatives and senators will be even more important if Obama wins reelection.

One candidate that has the potential to be a conservative rock star in the Senate is Ted Cruz, who is running for the U.S. Senate seat from Texas. If conservatives think Marco Rubio is impressive, Cruz is even more so. He is a Tea Party candidate endorsed by Senators Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey and Mike Lee. Cruz has stood up for Second Amendment rights — as he did in the Heller case (the Washington, D.C. Second Amendment case) — and stood firmly against the application of international law in domestic cases — as he did in the Medellin case.

He is a candidate who is being powered by the grassroots but who can also articulate the limited government, fiscal conservative message of the Tea Party that galvanized Republicans in 2010 to a broader audience, and that is why many conservative intelligentsia figures and prominent former Reagan advisers support him.

In Texas, Cruz is running against an establishment Republican, Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who would most likely go to Washington and drive conservatives crazy. For some reason — perhaps because the presidential contest has overshadowed some local races — Cruz has not received the attention and the momentum such a movement conservative deserves.

That needs to change, starting now. Cruz is too good of a conservative and his potential too great for conservatives for us not go all in on his candidacy. He is needed in Washington. And his life’s story is something the Republican Party can use more of.

—Tony Lee