Is Ted Cruz running for president in 2028?

Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, is a possible 2028 Republican presidential candidate. Cruz was the runner-up for the 2016 Republican nomination - the last major rival to Donald Trump in that primary - and he has said he expects to seek the presidency again 'at some point.' He has also been reported to be weighing a 2028 campaign, though he has made no formal announcement or FEC filing as of mid-2026.

Cruz appears in 11 of the 13 mid-2026 Republican primary surveys -- absent only from Harvard-Harris (May 29-31, 2026) and Overton Insights (May 16-20, 2026), where he was not listed as a named choice. His support ranges from 0.7 to 5 percent across those 11 surveys, listed newest first: Quantus Insights (July 3-7, 2026, 480 LV) 4 percent; Focaldata (June 26-30, 2026, 727 LV) 2 percent; Big Data Poll (June 26-28, 2026, 1,166 LV) 5 percent -- the high point; McLaughlin and Associates (June 17-23, 2026, 440 RV) 3 percent; Echelon Insights (June 11-14, 2026, 418 LV) 2 percent; Focaldata (May 29 - June 1, 2026, 667 adults) 3 percent; I&I/TIPP (May 26-28, 2026, 561 RV) 3 percent; Big Data Poll (May 24-27, 2026, 1,148 LV) 3.3 percent; Emerson College (May 24-25, 2026, 432 LV) 0.7 percent -- the low point; Daily Mail/JL Partners (May 15-19, 2026, 496 LV) 4 percent; Echelon Insights (May 14-18, 2026, 418 LV) 2 percent. Vice President JD Vance leads all 13 mid-2026 GOP surveys, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio the most consistently ranked alternative.

One structural consideration for a Cruz presidential run involves the 12th Amendment's same-state rule. Cruz is a Texas resident. So is Governor Greg Abbott, a possible 2028 candidate. The 12th Amendment bars electors from casting both a presidential vote and a vice-presidential vote for residents of their own state. Texas has 40 electoral votes, classified Likely R in 2028 and voted Republican in 2016, 2020, and 2024. A Cruz ticket that included Abbott as the vice-presidential choice -- or an Abbott ticket with Cruz as VP -- would put those 40 electoral votes at risk under the same-state constraint unless one candidate changed their legal state of residence before the election. The 2000 election established the controlling precedent: Dick Cheney changed his voter registration from Texas to Wyoming before joining the George W. Bush ticket. Any Cruz-Abbott pairing would face the same structural pressure.

Cruz's eligibility drew scrutiny during his 2016 run because he was born in Calgary, Canada, to a U.S.-citizen mother, which made him a U.S. citizen at birth. The prevailing view among constitutional scholars is that a citizen at birth qualifies as a 'natural born citizen' under Article II, and legal challenges to his 2016 candidacy were dismissed. He competed in a full presidential primary without disqualification, and no new legal bar has emerged since.

Cruz is 55 years old as of mid-2026, well above the constitutional minimum of 35, and meets the 14-year U.S. residency requirement. His 2016 campaign established a national fundraising and organizing base that would give a 2028 bid a running start if he enters. The open question is whether he would challenge a field led by a sitting vice president or wait for a later cycle.