Ted Cruz laughed off questions Monday about a potential presidential run in 2028, telling CBS News correspondent Major Garrett, “We’ll have this conversation another time.”
Cruz sat down with Garrett for a wide-ranging interview during Monday’s edition of “CBS Mornings.” At two different points throughout their conversation, Cruz found himself on the receiving end of questions about a potential presidential run after President Trump leaves office in 2028. Garrett began that line of questioning by noting that Cruz lasted longer than any other Republican nominee against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary race.
However, when asked whether or not he is planning to run for president again in two years, Cruz responded, “Look, I’m right now focused, No. 1, on the midterms,” referring to this fall’s forthcoming senate and congressional elections.
In the same conversation, Cruz touched on this year’s Texas senate race between Republican nominee Ken Paxton and Democratic nominee James Talarico. Of the latter, Cruz said, “He would be a great candidate in California. He’s not a great candidate in Texas.”
Later, Garrett pressed Cruz again about his potential presidential ambitions.
“I have no announcement for you,” Cruz said with a laugh, adding, “We’ll have this conversation another time.” You can watch the senator’s full “CBS Mornings” interview yourself in the video below.
Earlier in their conversation, Cruz touched on the brewing trade war between the United States and Canada, revealing that he is “hopeful” the conflict will be resolved sooner rather than later.
“Within the Trump administration, there are two camps. There’s one camp that wants to use the threat of tariffs as leverage to open up trade. There’s another camp that wants to see tariffs as a permanent feature. I’m in camp No. 1,” Cruz said. “I’m all for leverage, but I’ll tell you, the United States, we do a lot of trade with Canada. We do a lot of trade with Mexico.”
“The threat of tariffs is useful, but I think the objective should be more trade, not less,” Cruz added. “[Canadian Prime Minister] Mark Carney’s beating his chest, and that’s OK. I think it’s a little performative. I think it will get resolved and, at the end of the day, our economies are closely connected. I think the objective is going to be a whole lot more trade.”
