Texas Sen. Ted Cruz spent his first four years in the Senate making enemies — even among fellow Republicans — but he said Thursday that he didn’t expect a primary challenge in 2018.
“I don’t see anyone who’s likely to run,” Cruz said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, adding “at this point I don’t expect” a Republican primary opponent.
In October, The Texas Tribune reported that former Texas Gov. Rick Perry had encouraged Republican Rep. Michael McCaul to challenge Cruz in the primary. But a lot has changed since October.
Donald Trump won the election, putting Cruz’s presidential aspirations on hold. Perry was tapped as Trump’s energy secretary nominee and McCaul was considered as Trump’s secretary of homeland security.
The field of Texas Republicans with statewide clout who could challenge Cruz appears to be shrinking.
In a wide-ranging interview with Hewitt, Cruz also addressed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying he “did enormous damage to the United States.”
Trump appeared to support Assange’s assertion that Russians had not given the WikiLeaks founder the information that led to thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton campaign chief John Podesta being released.