Cruz Plans to Lead Phoenix Rise from Ruins
with Group with Same Tasks as State GOP
Capitol Inside
November 10, 2026
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz sought to get the reconstruction of the Texas Republican Party in motion amid the smoldering ashes of a historic midterm collapse when he announced on Tuesday that he's conceived a nonprofit group that he's basing in Austin with the same basic responsibilities the state GOP has had up to now.
Cruz - one of the last three statewide officials for the GOP in the wake of last week's midterm wipeout - has predicted that the Republicans will take Texas back in the next general election in 2028 when he's widely expected to be a candidate for president.
Such a comeback would be astonishing in the nation's second largest blue state where the Republicans suffered the worst beating in Texas history at the polls a week ago when Democrats flipped all of 15 statewide posts, the Texas House, the state Board of Education and two seats on a congressional map that was designed for a five-seat Republican gain.
The second midterm on President Donald Trump's watch produced the most destructive blue wave since 1974 in an election three months after Republican Richard Nixon resigned from his job as the president after getting snarled in the Watergate scandal. Democrats flipped 49 U.S. House seats and picked up four in the U.S. Senate amid the fallout from Nixon and Watergate.
The Republicans' plans for a quixotic comeback two years later crashed when Democrat Jimmy Carter won the race for president and Democrats held their majorities in Congress with a net-gain of one seat in the U.S. House. The wounds from Watergate were still fresh - and the GOP needed four years to get in shape to win again.
With Trump in office until he's replaced in 2028, Cruz and the Republicans could be dreaming if they really believe that the GOP can bounce back by then in Texas where it lost at least 41 races at the state and federal levels for positions that the party that's controlled the state for three entire decades expected to win again last week.
As the most unpopular president in American history, Trump was the overriding reason the Republicans lost so badly in 2026. He's shown no signs of a remake that could make him harmless in the second half of his current term. Trump doubled down in the past few days on his tariffs and the war in Iran - and he's given more moderates added cause to break ranks again with his defense of his so-called Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in the face of Republican efforts to impeach him before the Democrats get a chance when they reclaim majorities in both chambers of Congress in January.
How far down is the GOP in the wake of the midterm crushing? Democrats will have a majority of state legislatures in 2027 for the first time in 16 years - flipping six while wrestling 12 individual chambers from the Republicans including the Texas House. Democrats flipped 20 state House seats in Texas last week en route to a majority with 81 or 82 seats depending on a potential special election they would be favored to win.
While taking Texas back in two years may appear impossible on paper - especially with Trump killing Republicans with his policies and actions and showing no signs of a complete reverse - Cruz made a case on why he's the Republican who should lead the comeback quest with the Saving Texas effort that he said allies will fund.
Cruz said he plans to put the Saving Texas headquarters in Austin where the Texas GOP is based. The senator said the nonprofit will focus on candidate recruitment, the rebuilding of grassroots infrastructure and raising money for candidates. These are all functions that a state party organization normally undertakes.
"Texas is my home. It's where I've raised my family, where I've fought for conservative principles, and where I've had the extraordinary honor of representing 32 million Texans in the United States Senate," Cruz said of his credentials. "I'm committed to doing the hard work of rebuilding our party in the state, and this organization and team will be an important part of that effort."
more to come ...
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