Ladies and gentlemen, grab your peanuts, popcorn, and political scorecards. Senator Ted Cruz has entered the ballpark, and apparently nobody told him he only gets to play one position.
Pitcher? Cruz. Catcher? Cruz. First base? Cruz. Outfield? Cruz.
Baseball manager, standing in the dugout arguing with the umpire?
Oh, Lord… Cruz again.
Political commentator in the broadcast booth? Somebody check the press box, because Cruz is up there too!
At this point, Senator Ted Cruz is not merely play- ing in the political ballgame…
The man appears to be trying to own the damn stadium!
With November approaching, Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico are battling for Texas’ United States Senate seat, and Cruz is sounding the alarm.
Cruz calls the race “effectively tied.”
And the scoreboard agrees. One recent Texas poll produced something almost too perfect for this baseball story: 50 percent Paxton, 50 percent Talarico.
Not close.
Not almost tied.
Tied. Somebody bring extra innings. Cruz predicts Paxton will win, but he says this could become a staggering $200 million fight. A super PAC linked to Cruz has already jumped into the game with more than $1.7 million in advertising supporting Paxton. So, Cruz is campaigning, fundraising, coaching, and calling the play by play. Then comes another political pitch: birthright citizenship.
President Donald Trump has attempted to restrict automatic citizenship for some children born in the United States. And here the record deserves clarity. Cruz did not oppose Trump on the central issue. Cruz led a Supreme Court brief supporting Trump’s position, argu- ing that the Fourteenth Amendment does not automatically grant citi- zenship to children born here when their parents are unlawfully present. The Supreme Court disagreed with that interpretation in June. And on September 2, a federal judge blocked Trump’s newer attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, citing Su- preme Court precedent protecting citizenship for children born on American soil.
Cruz, however, has not left the stadium. In fact, during a recent interview promoting his new book about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Cruz was still defending his interpretation of the Constitution after the Court’s birthright citizenship ruling. Now comes the million dollar political question: Why is Ted Cruz suddenly everywhere?
Perhaps the answer is simple. He is Texas’ senior Republican senator trying to protect another Republican Senate seat. Fair enough. But politics has extra innings. Because while everybody watches November’s scoreboard, Cruz appears to be glancing toward another season: 2028.
Recent reporting says Cruz has made multiple visits to Iowa and is laying groundwork that could support another presidential campaign. And standing near home plate is Vice President JD Vance. Cruz has demonstrated that he is willing to disagree publicly with Vance, particularly on foreign policy.
So perhaps the ques- tion is not whether Cruz wants to become Vance’s vice president.
Maybe it is:
What if Ted Cruz wants Vance’s spot at the top of the ticket?
Nobody has announced that ballgame. And Cruz may need some batting practice first.
A recent Texas poll testing a hypothetical 2028 Republican presidential primary placed Cruz at just 6.5 percent, behind Marco Rubio, JD Vance and Ron DeSantis.
In other words…
The senator may be warming up, but the crowd ain’t doing the wave yet. Still, seasoned baseball fans know better than to leave early.
You watch the bullpen. You watch who is warming up.
You watch who suddenly starts traveling to Iowa.
And you definitely watch the player who keeps appearing on television.
For now, Cruz’s immediate game is Paxton versus Talarico.
But between birthright citizenship, Trump, Pax- ton, Talarico, Vance and Iowa, Cruz appears to have one eye on another scoreboard.
So, keep your ticket stub.
November may only be the seventh inning.
Because Senator Ted Cruz might already be warming up for 2028. And if that pitch comes? Batter up!
