Ted Cruz senses the end might be near.
The unpopular Texas senator is freaking about his reelection race, as well as a burgeoning scandal involving his sketchy podcast deal with iHeart Media.
In an appearance Wednesday on Fox News, Cruz sounded the alarm about his general election opponent, Rep. Colin Allred. The former NFL player and Baylor alum appears to be out of central casting, which seems to be making “Cancún Ted” very, very nervous.
Politics, but make it gay!
Stay woke with our briefing while staying informed on all things LGBTQ+ entertainment, life, and more!
“My opponent, a liberal Democrat named Colin Allred, is outraising Beto O’Rourke, my last opponent, 3-1,” he complained. “They’re flooding millions of dollars into Texas, and the reason is simple. You remember my last reelect, was a 3-point race, I won by 2.6%. So Chuck Schumer, his view is, he floods millions into Texas, he gains three points, and that’s how they win.”
Cruz may be craven, but he’s no dummy! He’s one of the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in the Senate, given his narrow 2018 victory over O’Rourke, and slew of controversies and missteps. Most infamously, Cruz fled to Cancun while Texas was getting battered with historic winter storms, knocking out power for millions of his constituents.
According to Allred’s campaign, he raised $4.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to Cruz’s $5.5 million.
While Cruz maintains a narrow fundraising advantage, that could change once the general election race ramps up. Given the widespread advantages for incumbents, it’s telling that the numbers are already so close.
Allred, who won the Democratic primary last month, is currently tied with Cruz at 41% in some polls. A Dallas-area rep., Allred is hitting Cruz on his selfishness, and longstanding opposition to abortion rights.
On The Daily Show Tuesday, Allred spelled out the dystopian nature of Texas’ abortion ban, which Cruz supports. As someone with two young children, he knows how personal the process can be.
Related*
Once again, someone from Ted Cruz’s past emerges to remind the world of his lifelong unpopularity
Apparently, The Texas senator wasn’t the most popular staffer on George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign.
“Those rooms, when you’re having close conversations with your doctor, they’re too small to have someone like Ted Cruz in there with you,” he said.
Later in the conversation, Allred pointed out that 26,000 women in Texas have been forced to birth their rapists’ child since Roe was overturned.
With a strong track record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights, Allred is running on individual liberty, a concept that Republicans claim to hold dear. But after 12 years in the Senate, it’s apparent that Cruz is guided by a different political philosophy: “What’s in it for me?”
There’s perhaps no greater example of Cruz’s self-aggrandizement than this thrice-weekly podcast, which is carried by iHeart Media. The radio network, which picked up Cruz’s show in 2022, has sent over $630,000 to his Super PAC since March 2023 (accounting for roughly one-third of the group’s contributions in that time frame).
The revelation over iHeart’s payments imply Cruz is lying about his podcast arrangement, considering the attention-seeking pol says he isn’t compensated for the endeavor.
But more importantly, it’s also probably illegal. Senators are prohibited from receiving gifts from registered lobbyists, which iHeart is.
When ABC 13 reporter Shannon Ryan confronted Cruz about his shady dealings, he imploded.
“It really is sad what’s happened to the media,” he fumed.
Notably, Cruz didn’t attempt to explain the questionable transactions. Instead, he criticized the media.
🥱🥱🥱
“You know, it really is sad what’s happened to the media, which is the media exists right now seemingly to parrot left-wing Democrat attacks,” he said. “So all the Democrats are left to do is make false personal attacks. I get you’re going to carry their water, but my request to you is simple: actually cover the issues!”
The issues, of course, aren’t on Cruz’s side, either. The senator better be careful what he wishes for!
lbcandide
There is exactly a 0% chance that he will not win reelection. Democrats thinking Texas is in play is just delusional. I say this as a native Texan who left due to realizing that.
abfab
Oh thank your lucky stars!!! A wasteland of bigots, fools, the KKK and aryan proud boys and girls. And tens of thousands of Ted Cruz clones.
abfab
The GOP, The Proud Boys, The Trumpers…all on thier way to prison. Another piece of shit leaves today. Rot Bitch. Toxic republicans. Septic tanks. Nothing more.
(NYT excerpt)
Septic Installer Is Sentenced to 7 Years for Urging Jan. 6 Mob With Megaphone
Taylor James Johnatakis, 40, coordinated rioters to rush a police barricade at the Southwest stairs to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
A Washington State man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, where prosecutors said he used a megaphone to urge other rioters to barge through a police line.
Before Jan. 6, Mr. Johnatakis posted numerous messages on social media expressing his desire to interfere with the election certification process at the Capitol. “That’s why I am going to D.C., to CHANGE the course of HISTORY #stopthesteal,” he wrote in one post, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Wearing a red MAGA hat and backpack and carrying a megaphone, Mr. Johnatakis led a group of people up to a police line on the Capitol’s Southwest stairs on Jan. 6, urging rioters to “push them out of here,” according to a court filing.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to sentence Mr. Johnatakis, a self-employed septic systems installer, to nine years in prison — longer than federal sentencing guidelines — arguing that he played an outsize role in the riot.
“Johnatakis was not just any rioter,” prosecutors said. “He led, organized and encouraged the assault of officers at the U.S. Capitol on January 6.”
Mr. Trump was indicted last August on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.
A March trial date was canceled after an appeal from Mr. Trump argued that he was immune from prosecution for official acts taken in the White House. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case later this month.
DavidIntl
Of course, it is highly likely that he will be pardoned by Trump in January.
ShaverC
“The unpopular Texas senator”. His approval rating is 48% now. Joe Biden’s is 39%. Is Queerty going to start referring to Biden as “the unpopular president”?
Jack
Say what you mean, ballsack. You’ve got two presidential candidates and I’m SICK of you twats acting like Biden is incompetent. Vote for Biden to have democracy and world unity. Vote for Trump because your insane. But stop the BS. And yes. Ted Cruz is WILDLY unpopular. He’s the Republican they’ve got.
abfab
And Shaver’s approval rating stands at zero. You are a douche bag.
ShaverC
Jack, Biden is incompetent, it’s very clear to see. You think Biden brings “world unity”?? The rest of the planet is laughing at him.
abfab
Nothing is clear to you Shaver. Keep pretending to be smart. It’s a good look on you.
Diplomat
Ballsack … truly original.
Texas politicians are slippier than cat shit on a linoleum floor. If Allred buries bone head Cruz, he can always move to Cancruz.
And yes fuzzy thinkers, Biden is fully competent. He actually gets things done. The Rs major platform is to pee their pants by following a convicted rapist, an insurrectionist and a world wide con str8 to hell. The rethuglicans, like the trans women mafia “movement” ball busting real women (which you’re not as you sport diks) and their private spaces and sports teams much like the Trump MAGA crowd attacking the Capitol, are poised for their return to the sulfer pits from whence they came.
Bosch
“The rest of the planet is laughing at him.”
No, we were laughing at Trump, the first time around. Now we’re just horrified that so many Americans still support Trump, because Hollywood made us think Americans weren’t that stupid.
still_onthemark
@Diplomat: Actually it’s spelled Balzac.
SoPluckyWhat
Joe is President, Cancun Ted is a Senator. Hardly the same job. That would be like someone comparing you to a rational human.
Jack
I can’t figure out what the hell Texas wants from its representatives. If Ted Cruz is the most hated man in the Senate….at least primary him. I thought Beto was going to beat him six years ago. I just don’t want to get my hopes up, but Colin Allred is an infinitely better choice.
abfab
Have you met any Texans? Not the brightest bunch.
Fahd
If flooding Texas with millions of dollars isn’t enough to defeat Cruz, I suggest the Democrats up it to hundreds of millions. His playing the victim couldn’t be more disgusting. As always with a story on Cruz, I am reminded that,
I do not like that Senator Cruz
I do not like his far right views
I do not like his stupid chin
I do not like his smarmy grin
I do not like him with a beard
I do not like him freshly sheared
I do not like what he just said
I do not like his boxy head
I do not like him wearing glasses
I do not like him greeting kids in classes
I do not like his stupid suits
I do not like his cowboy boots
I do not like him when he sneezes
I do not like him eating cheeses
I do not like him in the leaves
I do not like him when he feeds
I do not like him by a wall
I do not like his tattoo at all
I do not like him in a room
I do not like him in Cancun
I do not like him playing ball
I do not like his face at all
From John Oliver
inbama
It is painful to watch us embrace losing issues that only serve to elect slime like Cruz.
abfab
That would make you part of that problem.
inbama
Careful Dear, or you’ll be late for Drag Queen Story Hour.
Brave of you still doing that – wearing Depends and all under that plus-sized tunic.
uncutjim
Little Trumpy McAbs does need his wee wee pads.
Bosch
Dude, if an idiot like Trump isn’t enough to deter republican voters, then our opinions on drag queens and trans people will not make a difference.
inbama
Independents in swing states matter more than anybody, and if you don’t think the Marginalized Mafia isn’t freaking them out, I’ve got a bridge in Gaza to sell you.
Bosch
The people who turn to republicanism because of drag queens is a smaller group than the people who turn to democracy because of abortion and IVF.
“I’ll accept you if you turn against the rest” <- when has this ever been true? It's like this is your first time facing homophobia.
Bosch
To clarify my last statement: American republicans need a scapegoat to unite against. Muslims, Mexicans, black people, dungeons & dragons, Marilyn Manson, university education, medical practitioners… Once they feel they’ve “defeated” the “trans agenda”, who do you think they’ll go after? When trans people were invisible in your country, WE were the scapegoat. And they’re already going after women as well. Don’t be naive.
RavenMan
To my ears Ted has never had a single utterance, not one word, that sounded authentic. Everything is akin to a bad line reading in some horrific community theater. I’d bet even his farts sound manipulative and insincere.. Fingers cross for Collin.
abfab
He’s another one of those lawyers that can talk forever, suck all the 02 out of the room, never saying anything that matters to humanity. Another pompous lawyer. Yapping. Like a troll. Look at that face—very troll like. And he has a paunch from gulping down too much bad beer and never taking the stairs on Cap Hill. A fat pig. An authentic republican.
abfab
Oh, boo hoo. Like who didn’t see this tragic ending coming.
”No Labels, which sought to challenge Biden and Trump, ends its 2024 presidential bid”
UPDATED APRIL 4, 20243:48 PM ET
olfwob
26.000 rape vixtims had to give birth? I am shocked. Just imagine the absolur number of rapes in texas. What i s wrong with american society?
abfab
It’s not just the American society. But we sure do lead the way. We’ve been raping women and the earth for quite some time now. Can we stop it.
inbama
@abfab
So you’ve been raping women now?
As always, you’re full of surprises.
still_onthemark
Raping the earth too? Abfab, stay away from the gopher holes! Don’t stick anything in those gopher holes!
abfab
Move along, children.
DavidIntl
I am definitely not a fan of Ted Cruz, but it is just silly to think that Texas will be in play for a statewide race.
Yes, quite a few people have moved to Texas from blue states, and yes there are people who will be motivated by a concern for abortion rights. But for every one of those, there are two who voted Democrat before but are now very alarmed by the border situation. And that includes a lot of Hispanic citizens.
If I were betting, I would anticipate that Cruz will actually improve his margin this year.
still_onthemark
Don’t be so sure. Abortion rights will draw a lot of voters. That Alabama house race last week was a shocker!
inbama
Texas has gone so far off the deep end, it’s actually starting to make patches of Alabama look sane.
Rot has really taken hold there.