Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz said that he would launch another presidential campaign "in a heartbeat", arguing that his position seems to be good enough to do so.
He teased a possible presidential bid in an interview with conservative news outlet The Truth Gazette, recalling his past presidential aspirations as "the most fun I’ve ever had in my life".
“There’s a reason historically that the runner-up is almost always the next nominee”, Cruz asserted. “And that’s been true going back to Nixon or Reagan or McCain or Romney that has played out repeatedly. You come in with just an enormous base of support”.
Cruz pointed to the second place he secured among the Republican contestants for the presidential nomination back in 2016, managing to muscle through "a very strong field" of 17 candidates.
Despite later becoming Trump's ally, Cruz clashed with him relentlessly during the 2016 presidential campaign, and Trump even piqued Cruz's family. After the 2016 Republican Convention, however, Cruz said he would vote for Trump in the latter's stand-off with then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
The Texas senator did not take part in the 2020 presidential campaign, but was among those who backed an attempt to overturn that year's presidential election results after Trump claimed massive "election fraud".