Will Ted Cruz Run for President in 2020? Leading Conservatives Already Thinking About It
Cruz sat down with over 20 leaders of the conservative movement to discuss the possibility of a 2020 presidential bid.
Texas senator Ted Cruz was able to win 559 delegates in the Republican primaries before suspending his campaign on May 3, 2016. After Cruz’s supporters mourned the end of his campaign they started to ask the question: “What next?”
Nearly a month and a half later the answer is emerging. On Tuesday, June 14, The Hill reports, Cruz attended a private, confidential dinner with more than 20 top conservatives at the Virginia home of conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center. Several other powerful conservative leaders were in attendance, including the Heritage Foundation’s president Jim DeMint, David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, direct mail guru Richard Viguerie, Ken Blackwell, the former Republican mayor of Cincinnati and candidate for governor of Ohio, and the Susan B. Anthony List’s president Marjorie Dannenfelser.
The dinner was held to discuss Cruz’s future as well as the future of the conservative movement. The main topic of the night was how to position Cruz for the presidency in 2020 as he continues to champion the conservative movement as a senator.
Bozell downplayed the dinner, telling The Hill that “There was just discussion of the future of the movement and the future of Ted Cruz as the leader of the movement.” The newspaper also claimed that many of the leaders in attendance want Cruz to run for president again in 2020, comparing his campaign to that of Ronald Reagan’s first attempt at the presidency in 1976 when he lost the Republican nomination to Gerald Ford. Reagan continued to advocate for conservatism and came back to win the presidency in 1980,.
“I think [Cruz] earned the position of being the leader of the conservative movement in terms of an elected official,” Club For Growth’s McIntosh said. “Talking to him… I think he’s thinking about how to do that and ready to step into that leadership role.”
Cruz has not endorsed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and after this dinner suggests that he is focused on the future of the conservative movement as well as the possibility of a 2020 run for president.
