Sen. Ted Cruz is taking on President Trump in a Republican Senate primary in Tennessee, reasserting his independence from the White House after nearly four years of minimizing conflict.
The Texan was scheduled to spend Friday campaigning with conservative upstart Manny Sethi, a physician running against former ambassador Bill Hagerty, the GOP establishment favorite whom Trump endorsed to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander. Polls show the primary is neck and neck, and Cruz, mulling a presidential bid in 2024, reached out to Sethi unprompted and offered his backing.
“Since his first day in office, Sen. Cruz has sought out and only endorsed candidates across the country that will be conservative fighters in Washington,” Cruz spokesman Sam Cooper said. “In Tennessee, Sen. Cruz believes that Dr. Manny is the conservative fighter in the race.”
Cruz’s relationship with Trump started off rocky.
The two fought bitterly during the Republican presidential primary in 2016. The bickering continued well past the GOP convention, during which the senator, who finished second to Trump, declined to endorse the nominee during a speech from the dais in Cleveland. But Cruz made amends before Election Day, and the two have been allies ever since. The president even traveled to Texas during the 2018 midterm elections to rally votes for the senator’s reelection.
Meanwhile, Cruz steered clear of public spats with Trump while also avoiding friction with Republican leaders in the Senate. But the senator is emerging from political hibernation and beginning to flex his muscle with the conservative grassroots. Earlier this month, Cruz crossed the president in a House GOP primary runoff in Texas.
With Cruz’s decision to mobilize against Hagerty, a Trump-appointed former ambassador, “Trump World” and the president’s allies in the Senate are taking notice. After Cruz announced his endorsement of Sethi Wednesday morning via Twitter, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, tweeted in support of Hagerty. That was amplified by a similar tweet from Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.
“Couldn’t agree more with [Blackburn],” he wrote. “My friend [Hagerty] has always had my father’s back 100% and will be a fighter for his conservative America First agenda in the Senate!”
