Age: 51
Party: Republican
After President Trump lost reelection in 2020, Texas Sen. Cruz began branding himself as the next far-right leader to stand up for Trump-era values. He became a vocal proponent of overturning 2020 presidential election results and backed baseless claims of voter fraud while continuing to preach his conservative views on COVID-19 mandates, gun rights and immigration.
Cruz, who came in second to Trump in 2016’s Republican presidential primaries, has — like Trump —proven an expert at sparking controversy, often losing his battles in the court of public opinion. But he carries on, clinging to the support of an extremist base overlapping with the one that helped send Trump to the White House.
The former solicitor general of Texas has not declared candidacy yet, but has repeatedly hinted at the possibility, even telling a teenager-run conservative media…
