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When Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spoke out at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting last month, Ron Nehring, Cruz’s former advisor who served as his campaign spokesperson in 2016, took notice.
There, Cruz offered one of the most critical appraisals of his own party: that it had made space for antisemitism to thrive within its ranks.
“In the last six months, I have seen more antisemitism on the right than I’ve seen in my entire life. This is a poison, and I believe we are facing an existential crisis in our party and in our country, ” Cruz said.
Sen. Ted Cruz attends a hearing on the nomination of Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, for Commandant of the Coast Guard, Nov. 19, 2025, on Capitol Hill.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
He continued later, saying some Republicans are “complicit in that evil” by giving oxygen to those who hold these toxic views, seeming to take veiled aim at Tucker Carlson, who recently told white supremacist Nick Fuentes that he dislikes Christian Zionists “more than anybody.” (Carlson has since apologized for those remarks.)
“There are some people who are embraced at the highest level in government who have said there is no one they hate more than Christian Zionists […] if you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool, and that their mission is to combat and defeat global Jew-ery, and you say nothing? Then you are a coward and you are complicit in that evil,” Cruz said.
Nehring said he saw Cruz being intentional — stepping out ahead of a percolating issue and “truly displaying leadership.”
“He is the most prominent national Republican figure to weigh in on the danger of allowing a small group of ‘influencers’ who have either expressed antisemitic views or have played footsie with those who do,” Nehring told ABC News.
And, while he has not heard about any formal plans for his old boss to run for president in 2028, despite rumor and speculation, he said he believes Cruz would be a formidable contender as the fractures within the GOP leave members eager for a united way forward.
“A lot of people in the conservative movement are looking at each other in terms of, well, who’s going to say what? What’s the proper direction? People are literally looking for leadership and he’s offering that and, and running for president is a similar kind of exercise. You’re showing the direction, you’re showing the way,” Nehring said.
Nehring suggests looking at politicians’ travel schedules and slate of candidate endorsements to get an early read on potential ambitions, too: “presidential candidates work hard to make friends to establish those relationships well in advance.”
Cruz himself danced around his White House ambitions in a recent interview with Fox News amid reports he was considering another go after his bid in 2016. NOTUS reports that the White House believes Cruz is intentionally posturing himself against Vice President JD Vance to ready a run.
Senator Ted Cruz and Senator JD Vance during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md., March 2, 2023.
Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
ABC News has reached out to Cruz’s office for comment.
Cruz’s RJC remarks took place in a state critical to the Republican’s presidential nominating calendar: Nevada. Cruz was also scheduled to attend an event in Iowa, another key early-voting state, but had to cancel due to Senate votes.
And he has backed a slate of Republicans in nationally watched races, for example, supporting Rep. Ashley Hinson in her Iowa Senate race; Rep. Byron Donalds in Florida’s gubernatorial race; and is boosting New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler in his reelection bid.
Cruz was the first Republican to announce a run for the White House in 2016.
Sarah Isgur, ABC News legal contributor and veteran of Republican presidential campaigns, finds Cruz would be a tireless force.
“Underestimate Ted at your peril,” Isgur said.
“He’s got high name ID, an eager donor base, a huge platform that he alone controls, and a wide-open lane with conservatives in the party. Plus nobody outworks Ted. It’s never been confirmed whether he sleeps at all,” said Isgur, who once served as the political director for Cruz’s PAC.
That “huge platform” is his ascendant podcast, “The Verdict,” with a viewership seemingly more expansive than other politician-hosted shows. His program is ranked No. 45 overall on Apple’s news podcast charts, the only politician-led program to crack the top 200. When it first launched, tied to President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial in 2020, the podcast shot to No. 1 on the iTunes charts, according to Politico.
Cruz may face challenges over several controversies he has been involved in, including his questioning of the 2020 election results and his 2021 trip to Cancun, Mexico, as Texas reeled from a historic storm.
Still, Cruz “really knows how to push the internet’s buttons,” said Kyle Tharp, author of the “Chaotic Era” newsletter that tracks media and politics.
Tharp said he sees the Texas senator as one of the “OG influencer politicians.”
“He’s very savvy at using social media to get his message across, he’s not afraid to sort of buck his party’s orthodoxy on a number of issues. That has not made him a lot of friends in Washington, and I think audiences appreciate that authenticity,” Tharp said.
If there is reality to Cruz’s reignited presidential ambitions, his vast audience is an invaluable asset, building favors with elected officials by having them on his show, and upping his cache, Tharp explained.
His podcast could also double as a testing ground for his rhetoric, particularly as the GOP schisms surrounding global internationalism continue to swell and conservative commentators such as Carlson and Candace Owens grow in prominence.
“As the Candace’s and Tuckers start to take over the conservative movement, where does that leave Ted Cruz? Does that give him a bigger platform as a different voice, or does he get drowned out?,” Tharp said.
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