After dropping the presidential race, Ted Cruz went back to Washington in order to reactivate his role as a Republican Senator.
The Senate was called by Cruz during his presidential campaign “The Washington Cartel” so is no surprise that there was not any welcome party for his return. The entire Cruz’s campaign was full of the anti-politics ideal, creating an outsider movement (just as Donald Trump) and that is something that now is growing against him since he is right back in the center of the entire structure he criticized.
Actually, in the entire presidential campaign, only Mike Lee of Utah showed support towards Cruz.
Cruz’ point of view
The attitude towards his returning to the Senate was mostly sarcastic. Some fellow senators were skeptic about what position would he take. The Senator of Arizona, Jeff Flake, said that it would be an interesting “turnabout” is Cruz were to support Mr. Trum now.
But once in Washington, he joined the “Never Trump” movement, as he stated that he won’t endorse Trump. This is no surprise, since in the last days of Cruz’s campaign some personal attacks and strong statements against each other were aired.
To some, it is a possibility that Ted Cruz returns to the race since the Republican National Convention will be held in Cleveland in July and the former candidate could get back. But for now, Cruz is just Senator.
Senator, not President
Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubia of Florida were the other three senators that lost in the presidential race against Mr. Trump. Cruz made it the furthest but is now on the bench with his colleagues. In the history of the Senate, returning senators who failed in the pursuit of the White House are more common than expected. However, this is not a bad thing at all. According to Donald Ritchie, a historian specialized in the U.S. Senate, this can actually transform in a positive way the lawmaking process. He said to the New York Times:
They remember what they liked about the Senate, the fact is United States senators are very influential and powerful people in their own right. Those who come back and are not running again or not at the end of their term hunker down in committee assignments and hopefully have learned a lot that can translate into legislation
The Senate has produced mostly runners in the presidential race, but not actual presidents. Actually, Barack Obama was the first senator to turn president since John F. Kennedy.
Source: NY Times