U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz confirms he will seek a third term in 2024

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Ted Cruz mentioned on Saturday that he would seek a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2024, although he additionally didn’t rule out working for president.

“I’m running for reelection in the Senate, I’m focused on the battles in the United States Senate,” Cruz advised reporters after addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas. He mentioned he was additionally targeted on the Senate runoff in Georgia on Dec. 6, in response to a video of his discussion with reporters posted by Fox News.

The Texas Republican reiterated his disappointment that his celebration did not take management of the Senate in this month’s midterm elections, a setback he blamed on a lack of willpower inside the celebration.

Cruz was certainly one of 10 Republican senators who voted against the reelection of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, as minority chief on Wednesday. McConnell simply fended off a problem from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, by a vote of 37-10.

On Saturday, Cruz mentioned he had made a movement to delay the management election till after the Georgia runoff. Backed by former President Donald Trump, Herschel Walker, the retired soccer star, is difficult Sen. Raphael Warnock. The Democrats have already gained 50 seats in the following Senate, giving them management of the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, however each events are pouring cash into the race.

“We need a real debate about how are we going to lead during the next two years in the minority in the U.S. Senate,” Cruz advised the Republican Jewish Coalition. “And the question that I posed to Mitch McConnell and our leadership was very simple: ‘Is there anything on which we are willing to fight?’ I stood in front of the conference, and I said: ‘Listen, I’ve traveled all over the country. I’ll tell ya: People are dispirited and demoralized because they say that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight.’ And there’s a reason for that, which is that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight.”

Cruz urged Republicans to struggle to reinstate navy service members discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. (Most of the service members received general discharges, which signifies that they are often reinstated in the event that they get the vaccine.)

Cruz additionally mentioned the celebration ought to block the Biden administration’s plan to rent 87,000 I.R.S. brokers, redirecting the cash towards border safety. (The determine comes from a May 2021 estimate from the Treasury Department of the full variety of staff the I.R.S. proposes to rent over the following 10 years. Most will change staff who’re retiring, and most will deal with areas like customer support and know-how— not auditing tax returns.)

Asked if he ought to now not be thought-about a potential presidential candidate, Cruz mentioned that “there’ll be plenty of time to discuss [the] 2024 presidential.”