Ted Cruz for US Presidency: Is the Texan Senator Eligible to Run?

Speculations about a possible 2028 presidential bid for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) start to get traction online, prompting the resurfacing of an old issue regarding his eligibility to run for the highest government position in the US.

Rumours about Cruz's 2028 plans started when Axios published a report claiming that the Texan senator and his team are starting to lay the groundwork for the presidency through his feud with political commentator Tucker Carlson. The report also mentioned that he will probably put himself in a competition with US Vice President JD Vance.

But Cruz neither confirmed nor denied his plans in an interview with Fox News. According to the senator, 'Reporters are going to write headlines that get clicks and get eyeballs. I got a job — it's representing 31 million Texans. And I'll tell you right now, the wins we are getting are historic.'

'So the victories we are winning are a big deal. That's where my focus is,' the senator added.

He cited his role in President Donald Trump's signature tax and border security package at the start of the year as one of his wins during his current term as Texas's senator.

Issues about Eligibility

Cruz is not a stranger to launching a presidential bid. He ran in the 2016 Republican preliminary, but conceded to Trump, who later went on to win his first term in the Oval Office.

The senator's previous attempt launched a constitutional debate on whether he was eligibile to run for the US presidency because of his background.

Cruz was born on 22 December 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, to an American mother and a Cuban father who later became a naturalised US citizen. Most constitutional scholars agree that individuals born abroad to at least one American parent are considered natural-born citizens. This interpretation has precedent: Senator John McCain, born in the Panama Canal Zone, and Governor George Romney, born in Mexico, were declared eligible to run for president. A bipartisan Senate resolution released in 2008 even affirmed McCain's 'natural-born' citizenship.

During Cruz's 2016 Republican preliminary run, constitutional commentators raised the issue of his citizenship, but no formal challenge was brought to court, leaving the matter unresolved judicially.

Trump's Reaction to a Possible Cruz Presidential Run

During a White House press interaction, the president answered a question from a reporter regarding Cruz's possible interest in a 2028 bid for the presidency.

'It's a little early. It's three and a quarter years (away). That's a long time,' Trump told the reporter, as published by USA Today. 'But he's a very good guy. He is a very good friend of mine.'

Trump is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in the White House despite expressing his interest in serving beyond 2028.

However, some of Trump's avid supporters are pushing for another term even if it is not legally allowed.

'Trump is going to be president in '28, and people just ought to get accommodated with that,' former White House chief strategist and MAGA podcast host Steve Bannon said in an interview with The Economist in late October.