by Ben Whedon
Vice President JD Vance says it’s apparent that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Republican, is preparing to run for president in 2028.
Polls show Vance is among the top choices among likely GOP voters to become the next GOP presidential nominee. However, he’s remained noncommittal, telling NBC News recently that he’s focused, at least for now, on electing Republicans in the midterms.
“It is really obvious to me that, at this very moment, Ted Cruz is running for president,” Vance said. “At this moment, I’m not. I’m trying to help elect Republicans. That’s what I’m going to keep on doing.”
Cruz is a solid supporter of Israel and the Iran war. And in recent months, he has challenged a number of influential conservative podcasters, including Tucker Carlson, on those issues. He sought the 2016 GOP presidential nomination but lost to Trump.
This week, a new poll from Harvard CAPS / Harris Poll showed Vance is the front-runner for the 2028 Republican nominee. The poll showed 39% of Republican voters supported Vance, which is 15 percentage points ahead of Donald Trump Jr. The poll did not have Cruz in the top six possible candidates, ranking behind conservative commentator Tucker Carlson and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
On average, RealClearPolitics polling shows Cruz has 3% support for the nomination, compared to 39.7% for Vance.
For Democrats, the new poll showed Democratic voters supporting former Vice President Kamala Harris, who polled at 39%. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is in second place with 21% of the vote.
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Ben Whedon is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
