Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s podcast on Wednesday that “it’s no secret” that he wants to be president.
Cruz finished in second place behind President Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
“I will say, this is a bug that history has proved is rarely ended,” Cruz said, according to The Texas Tribune.
“It is a permanent and often fatal bug,” he added.
Cruz said “time will tell” if he runs for president again.
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🇺🇸“It is no secret that I want to be president”
On the latest episode of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s “Lt. Dan” podcast, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz teased the idea of putting his hat in the ring for the 2028 presidential election.
This would not be Cruz’s first go at the White House. In… pic.twitter.com/M9KVFbvzep
— Chron (@chron) August 27, 2026
More from The Texas Tribune:
Patrick ran through a shortlist of prospective candidates that included Cruz, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Gov. Greg Abbott — currently running for a record fourth term as Texas governor.
“I think Greg Abbott wants to run,” Patrick said.
When asked if Abbott was interested in running for president in 2028, his gubernatorial campaign press secretary, Eduardo Leal, was unequivocal.
“No,” Leal said.
Cruz is currently promoting a biography he penned about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, released Tuesday, and discussed the 2028 presidential field in an interview on MS NOW about the book.
When asked by MS NOW’s Ali Vitali if the party had coalesced behind Vance, Cruz was quick to disagree.
“Oh no,” he said. “There’s going to be a full discussion about who we are and what we believe.”
As for his participation in that discussion — and potentially in the presidential field — Cruz told Vitali, “There will be time to figure that out. I’ll certainly be part of the discussion, because I care deeply.”
Trump was asked if he thought Cruz could be president.
“He’s very talented, he’s a very good friend of mine. I think he might do that, yeah,” Trump responded.
“He’s a talented guy,” he added.
Watch below:
President Trump on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) running for President in 2028: "He's very talented, he's a very good friend of mine. I think he might do that, yeah." pic.twitter.com/ecmUMsOZWM
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 27, 2026
The Hill shared further:
Cruz said there “is no Never Trump lane” in the Republican Party anymore and praised Trump’s willingness to fight for his views.
“Love him or hate him, you’ve got to acknowledge this guy has a backbone — he is fearless. And there are a lot of Republicans that were so tired of lily-livered Republicans who were afraid of their own shadow,” he said. “Trump doesn’t hide in the corner. He is ferocious. I like that.”
But Cruz said he wished Trump showed more “message discipline and focus” and noted that he speaks with Trump on a weekly or daily basis.
“He doesn’t always listen to me but he frequently listens to me, and I’m grateful because he’s got courage,” he said.
Cruz said there needs to be soul-searching over the future of the Republican Party once Trump, who is 80, leaves office in two and a half years.
“Going forward, we’re in the midst of a debate about who our party is and what we believe, and I think economically we’ve got to debate, ‘Are we a small-government, free-market conservative party, are we a big-government, nanny-state party?’” he said.
Asked if he will be part of the discussion, possibly as a future presidential candidate, about what the Republican Party stands for, Cruz said: “There’ll be time to figure that out.”
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Watch the full conversation below:
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