2026-06-25T09:00:25.622Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
南卡罗来纳州哥伦比亚——
一场在支持者家中举办的冰淇淋联谊会。一场与退伍军人的见面会。一场与警长们的圆桌会谈。一场在闷热的烧烤店举办的晚间集会，之后还有排成长龙的合影环节。
特德·克鲁兹周一在南卡罗来纳州的行程，与他十年前在此竞选总统时的日程极为相似。但这位得克萨斯州参议员并没有再次参选——至少目前没有。
实际上，克鲁兹此行前往这个早期共和党初选战场，是为其长期盟友、州总检察长艾伦·威尔逊助选，后者在周二的共和党州长 runoff选举中获胜。
从盟友到对手，从过去的支持者到潜在的竞争对手，再到最终可能决定其政治命运的初选选民，共和党内部几乎所有人都达成了共识：克鲁兹正在为下一次总统竞选打下基础，即便这意味着要与副总统J·D·万斯，或是最终获得唐纳德·特朗普总统背书的任何人展开竞争。
“如果他不参选，我会非常惊讶，”鲍勃·范德普拉茨说道，他是艾奥瓦州极具影响力的保守派人士，曾在2016年总统竞选期间担任克鲁兹的全国联合主席。上个月克鲁兹前往艾奥瓦州为共和党候选人助选时，两人再次碰面。
克鲁兹仍是一位筹款能力出众的政客，与共和党多位顶级捐赠者保持着联系。他成功背书了威尔逊，以及佐治亚州近期另一位州长候选人里克·杰克逊，击败了特朗普支持的对手。同时，他在推动共和党政治运作的新媒体生态系统中积累了相当规模的追随者。
在南卡罗来纳州接受CNN采访时，克鲁兹对2028年参选的猜测不予理会，称自己正“全力以赴”帮助共和党在中期选举中保住国会多数席位。
“我会在竞选之路上投入大量时间，届时再为未来的选举操心也不迟，”他说。
但得克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁近期向Semafor透露，克鲁兹“想要成为下一任总统”。作为特朗普最有可能的政治继承人，万斯在接受梅根·凯利采访时表示，克鲁兹“显然”正在参选。
若克鲁兹发起新的总统竞选，将考验共和党内部是否有空间容纳这样一位横跨特朗普时代前与后共和党意识形态分歧的人物。尽管克鲁兹在参议院中将自己塑造成白宫的可靠盟友，但他也曾对特朗普的关税政策表示怀疑，公开质疑政府针对美国广播公司（ABC）深夜脱口秀主持人吉米·坎摩尔的打击行动，即便硅谷顶级高管与总统建立起联系，他仍对大型科技公司持批评态度。
或许最为关键的是，克鲁兹已成为共和党中对美伊和平协议发声最强烈的批评者之一。而万斯正率领美国代表团与德黑兰进行谈判。
克鲁兹长期以来一直公开表示希望再次参选总统，称2016年的竞选是“我人生中最有趣的一段时光”。他在2023年曾表示，自己“完全希望并期待在未来某个时候再次参选”。本周，克鲁兹将在“多数之路会议”上发表演讲，这是由信仰与自由联盟举办的年度基督教保守派集会，现场聚集了曾支持克鲁兹参选总统、后来转而支持特朗普的选民与领导人。
“他的知名度不降反升，”范德普拉茨说道，“他频繁登上福克斯新闻，拥有一档收视率极高的播客。人们会关注他、了解他，认为他是为既定议程而战的斗士。”
他的播客《裁决》每周多次更新，听众通常超过百万，为其在共和党内部提供了独特且庞大的发声平台。在上周的一期节目中，克鲁兹详细审视了伊朗谈判，称特朗普获得了“非常糟糕的建议”，向伊朗提供多达3000亿美元的资金将是“非常严重的错误”。
在特朗普的核心圈子内部，克鲁兹2028年参选几乎被视为板上钉钉的事，这激怒了致力于保护总统权力、以确定“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）运动和共和党未来走向的白宫盟友。上周，这种不满情绪公开爆发：特朗普的盟友——包括总统的长子小唐纳德·特朗普——猛烈抨击克鲁兹攻击伊朗协议，并指责他为争取未来初选选民而造势。
“没人会认真将他视为竞争者，”亚历克斯·布鲁塞维茨说道，他是特朗普的顾问，也是批评克鲁兹的人士之一，“他会参选吗？当然会，因为他的自负比他所代表的州还要大十倍。他没有民众支持，但他拥有竞选资金和运作班子，毕竟他之前参选过。”
即便那些在2016年支持过克鲁兹的人，如今也承认他要重新赢得共和党选民支持面临着巨大挑战。
“两次竞选间隔十年，政坛早已天翻地覆，”保守派脱口秀主持人史蒂夫·迪尔斯说道，他在2016年是克鲁兹在艾奥瓦州的早期支持者，当时他在艾奥瓦州主持一档广播节目，“最终说了算的声音是‘MAGA领袖’特朗普。我们都在观望，但本质上这是一场只有一人的初选。”
克鲁兹的2028年参选之旅，将是其政治生涯中又一次大胆之举。
克鲁兹2013年以保守派反叛者的身份进入参议院，凭借这一形象开启了2016年总统竞选，赢得艾奥瓦州党团会议初选，并成为特朗普获得提名之路上最严峻的威胁。尽管当时克鲁兹与特朗普争斗激烈，但两人最终和解并关系愈发密切，在2018年克鲁兹以微弱优势击败民主党人贝托·奥罗克赢得参议员连任选举期间亦是如此。
如今，克鲁兹担任权力强大的参议院商业委员会主席，并自诩为特朗普在参议院的“最坚定盟友”。特朗普称克鲁兹是一位好朋友，但也时常提醒这位2016年的前对手，最终胜出的是自己。
“我们当时进行了一场相当激烈的竞选，结果相当不错，”去年被问及克鲁兹2028年参选野心时，特朗普说道。
在贸易问题上，克鲁兹表示自己“并不支持”关税，并在去年警告特朗普发起的大规模全球贸易战可能“对美国造成灾难性影响”。在外交政策方面，克鲁兹长期以来称自己处于“干预主义与孤立主义这两个极端之间的第三个立场”。
面对MAGA阵营日益增长的怀疑态度，克鲁兹是美以同盟的坚定捍卫者。他直面共和党内部的反犹主义，指责尼克·富恩特斯和塔克·卡尔森等有影响力的人物为偏执思想提供了滋生土壤。
“我将尽我所能对抗并击败这种毒害，我们不会让它摧毁我们的政党或国家，”克鲁兹近期访问艾奥瓦州时说道，他称卡尔森是“右翼阵营中推动反犹主义最危险的人物”，卡尔森对此予以否认。去年两人在卡尔森的播客上发生争执，期间围绕以色列问题展开了激烈交锋。
周三通过电话联系到卡尔森时，他谈及克鲁兹的言论称：“50年来，我从未见过任何一个人喜欢特德·克鲁兹，或是认同参议员的职责是捍卫一个外国。我认为克鲁兹是在为他的捐赠者发声，我猜只有他们会为他投票。不过随时欢迎他回到我的节目中来。”
在上述诸多议题上，克鲁兹与万斯都存在分歧。这位副总统直言不讳地为特朗普的关税政策辩护，对外国干预持更怀疑的态度——这一立场特朗普也曾不时试探，他还淡化了反犹主义在右翼“泛滥”的说法。他拒绝批评卡尔森，认为卡尔森是2024年选举特朗普的政治联盟中不可或缺的一部分。
万斯在近期的一次采访中调侃称，如果自己不参加2028年总统竞选，“坚定的非干预主义、美国优先的特德·克鲁兹”可以在党内扛起他的旗帜。
“他显然正在竞选总统，”万斯随后严肃补充道。
南卡罗来纳州牧师迈克·冈萨雷斯曾在2016年担任克鲁兹该州竞选团队联合主席，他表示克鲁兹可以在2028年以“严格的宪法保守派”身份参选，与特朗普所激发的“那种民族主义、民粹主义候选人”形成对比。
另一位2016年克鲁兹的支持者、牧师塞缪尔·罗德里格斯表示，克鲁兹“倾向于老式的财政保守主义”，对伊朗不一定是“鹰派立场”，而是“反映了美国选民的焦虑与担忧……因为我们不信任伊朗”。
两人都认为，万斯与克鲁兹之间的初选对共和党而言可能是有益的。冈萨雷斯表示，他“乐见看到（克鲁兹）与J·D·万斯展开正面交锋”。
“我真心认为，这是共和党必须进行的一场有意义的讨论，也是后特朗普时代保守派运动未来应当开展的讨论，”罗德里格斯说道。
迪尔斯预计，克鲁兹对以色列的支持态度，将受到艾奥瓦州和南卡罗来纳州初选关键群体的年长福音派选民的欢迎，也会得到像米里亚姆·阿德尔森这样的共和党顶级捐赠者的支持，她与这位得克萨斯州共和党人有着长期的合作关系。
迪尔斯表示，以色列问题“为克鲁兹再次参选提供了至少正当的理由，也足以让他作为候选人重新被接纳”。
“但他必须证明自己拥有更广泛的MAGA选民吸引力才能获胜，”迪尔斯补充道。
今年早些时候在达拉斯郊外举行的保守派政治行动会议（CPAC）上，就已能看出克鲁兹面临的挑战。在那里，克鲁兹勾勒出一个融合特朗普民粹主义与小政府、低税收、有限监管等共和党核心原则的共和党愿景。
家乡的观众热情地接待了这位资深参议员。但当CPAC主办方就2028年总统竞选人选对参会者进行民意调查时，万斯以压倒性优势位居榜首，紧随其后的是国务卿马可·卢比奥。仅有1%的人选择了克鲁兹。
克鲁兹对威尔逊的背书，使他成为特朗普在南卡罗来纳州政治失利中的关键人物。特朗普曾在初选中支持副州长帕梅拉·埃维特，但在埃维特晋级与威尔逊的 runoff选举后，克鲁兹转而支持威尔逊，一个支持克鲁兹的超级政治行动委员会还投放电视广告为其造势。
埃维特试图将克鲁兹对伊朗和平协议的怀疑态度作为威尔逊的软肋，呼吁威尔逊谴责克鲁兹“对特朗普总统的攻击”。
两天后，特朗普宣布将在 runoff选举中支持两位候选人。克鲁兹淡化了与特朗普在此次竞选中的紧张关系，告诉CNN他们“在绝大多数竞选议题上意见一致，我很高兴看到总统在这件事上与我立场一致”。
克鲁兹2016年竞选团队的部分成员陪同他出席了与威尔逊的部分助选活动，克鲁兹也沿用了其以往竞选演讲中的经典话术。
“愿上帝保佑南卡罗来纳州这片伟大的土地，”周一晚间在哥伦比亚的烧烤店发表演讲时，克鲁兹拿起麦克风说道，台下座无虚席。他在呼吁废除美国国税局并将其总部“上锁”时赢得了掌声，这一承诺他在2016年竞选期间曾多次提及。
克鲁兹多次向南卡罗来纳州致敬，还与当地记者调侃他对烧烤酱料的偏好：“最好的酱料就是不加酱料。”
在更早的萨姆特之行中，这个位于哥伦比亚城外约一小时车程的小镇，一名观众问及克鲁兹是否有兴趣担任最高法院大法官。他给出了多年来一贯的回答：尽管被讨论此事“令人受宠若惊”，但他永远无法像大法官那样退出“政治斗争”。
哥伦比亚集会结束后，来自附近查平的78岁退休人员罗伯特·奥尔特表示，现在谈论2028年还“为时过早”，但称克鲁兹是他喜欢的几位潜在候选人之一。
“我认为目前万斯可能是‘天选之子’，”奥尔特说道，“但这并不意味着他一定会最终胜出。”
与会者表示，即便万斯参选，他们也认为克鲁兹仍有胜出路径。来自哥伦比亚的85岁保险代理人吉姆·哈特曼对克鲁兹和万斯都给予了好评，但称他认为克鲁兹是更坚定的保守派，会“立场坚定”。
迈克尔·阿尔法罗是一位40岁的威尔逊支持者，前来参加哥伦比亚的集会，他表示克鲁兹在特朗普唯一支持埃维特时选择背书威尔逊“会在此地被铭记”，甚至可能为这位得克萨斯州共和党人未来的竞选提供“路线图”。
为什么？“因为他要竞选总统，”阿尔法罗说道。
Ted Cruz’s not-so-secret White House dreams have gotten JD Vance’s attention and annoyed Trump allies
2026-06-25T09:00:25.622Z / CNN
Columbia, South Carolina—
An ice cream social at a supporter’s house. A meet-and-greet with veterans. A roundtable with sheriffs. An evening rally at a sweltering barbecue joint and a winding photo line afterward.
Ted Cruz’s Monday schedule in South Carolina looked a lot like his itinerary a decade ago when he was campaigning for president here. But the Texas senator is not running again — at least not yet.
Rather, Cruz had traveled to the early GOP primary battleground to stump for state Attorney General Alan Wilson, a longtime ally who won Tuesday’s Republican runoff for governor.
From allies to adversaries, past supporters to potential rivals, and the primary voters who may ultimately decide his fate, there’s near-unanimous agreement in the Republican Party on this: Cruz is laying the groundwork for another presidential campaign, even if it means taking on Vice President JD Vance or whoever President Donald Trump ultimately endorses.
“I would be shocked if he doesn’t run,” said Bob Vander Plaats, an influential conservative figure in Iowa who was a national co-chair of Cruz’s 2016 campaign. Cruz and Vander Plaats reunited last month when Cruz went to campaign for Republicans in Iowa.
Cruz remains a prolific fundraiser with ties to some of the party’s biggest donors. He successfully endorsed Wilson and another recent gubernatorial contender, Rick Jackson in Georgia, over Trump-backed rivals. And he has built a considerable following in the new media ecosystem driving Republican politics.
Speaking to CNN in South Carolina, Cruz waved off 2028 speculation, saying he is “all in” on helping Republicans save their congressional majorities in the midterms.
“I will be on the road a lot campaigning for that, and there’ll be plenty of time to worry about future elections in the future,” he said.
But Texas Sen. John Cornyn recently observed to Semafor that Cruz “wants to be the next president.” Vance, Trump’s most likely political heir, told Megyn Kelly that Cruz is “clearly” running.
A new Cruz campaign would test whether there is space in the Republican Party for someone who straddles the ideological divide between the pre-Trump and post-Trump GOP. While Cruz has cast himself as a reliable White House ally in the Senate, he has also voiced skepticism of Trump’s tariff strategy, publicly questioned the administration’s targeting of ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel, and has remained critical of Big Tech even as top Silicon Valley leaders build their relationships with the president.
Perhaps most significantly, Cruz has emerged as one of the most vocal Republican critics of the US-Iran peace deal. Vance is leading the US delegation in negotiations with Tehran.
Cruz has long been open about wanting to run for president again, calling his 2016 run “the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.” He said in 2023 that he would “fully hope and expect to run again at some point.” This week, Cruz will address the Road to Majority Conference, an annual gathering of Christian conservatives put on by the Faith and Freedom Coalition. It’s a room full of the kinds of voters and leaders that once embraced Cruz’s presidential aspirations but moved to Trump.
“His profile has only risen,” said Vander Plaats. “He’s on Fox News a lot, he’s got a top-rated podcast. People hear of him, they see of him. They view him as a fighter for the agenda.”
That podcast, “Verdict,” airs multiple times a week and often reaches more than a million listeners, providing a uniquely large platform within the party. On an episode last week, Cruz extensively scrutinized the Iran negotiations, saying Trump is getting “very poor advice” and that giving Iran access to up to $300 billion would be a “very serious mistake.”
Within Trump’s inner circle, a Cruz 2028 campaign is treated as all but certain, rankling White House allies who are intent on protecting the president’s power to dictate the future of MAGA and the party. The frustration spilled into the open last week as Trump allies — including the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — pounced on Cruz for attacking the Iran deal and accused him of posturing for future primary voters.
“No one takes him seriously as a contender,” said Alex Bruesewitz, a Trump adviser and one of those Cruz critics. “Will he run? Absolutely, because his ego is 10 times bigger than the state he represents. He has no support. But he’ll have a war chest and an apparatus because he’s done this before.”
Even those who stood with Cruz in 2016 now acknowledge the climb he faces to recapture the hearts of GOP voters.
“A decade is a long time in between runs, and a lot has changed,” said conservative talk show host Steve Deace, an early Cruz backer in 2016 when he hosted a show on Iowa’s airwaves. “The ultimate voice that matters is Chief MAGA: Trump. We’re all watching, but it’s really a primary of one.”
A 2028 campaign by Cruz would be another audacious move in a political career marked by them.
Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013 as a conservative insurgent, a profile he parlayed into a 2016 presidential campaign that won the Iowa caucuses and posed the most serious threat to Trump’s march to the nomination. While Cruz and Trump fought bitterly then, they eventually patched things up and grew closer, including during Cruz’s closer-than-expected 2018 Senate race against Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
Now, Cruz chairs the powerful Senate Commerce Committee and touts himself as Trump’s “strongest ally” in the Senate. Trump has called Cruz a good friend but has also reminded his former rival who ended up the top dog in 2016.
“We had quite a campaign against Ted and it worked out quite nicely,” Trump said last year when asked about Cruz’s 2028 ambitions.
On trade, Cruz has said he is “not a fan” of tariffs and warned last year that Trump’s sweeping global trade war could be “terrible for America.” On foreign policy, Cruz has long said he occupies the “third point of a triangle” where the other points represent interventionism and isolationism.
Cruz is a fierce defender of the US-Israel alliance in the face of growing MAGA skepticism. He has confronted antisemitism head-on within the GOP and has accused influential figures like Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson of giving oxygen to bigotry.
“I am going to do everything I can to fight and defeat this poison, and we will not let it destroy our party or our nation,” Cruz said during his recent visit to Iowa, where he called Carlson “the single most dangerous” person pushing antisemitism on the right, a charge Carlson denies. The two sparred on Carlson’s podcast last year, which included a heated back-and-forth over Israel.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Carlson said of Cruz’s remarks: “I’ve never met a single person in 50 years who likes Ted Cruz or agrees that a senator’s job is to defend a foreign country. I think Ted is speaking to and for his donors, and I assume they’ll be the only ones voting for him. But he’s welcome back on my show anytime.”
On each of those issues, there is daylight with Vance. The vice president has vocally defended Trump’s tariff policies, has been more skeptical of foreign intervention — a stance that Trump has tested at times — and he has downplayed the idea that antisemitism is “exploding” on the right. He has declined to criticize Carlson, suggesting he is a valuable part of the political coalition that elected Trump in 2024.
Vance sarcastically remarked in a recent interview that if he does not run in 2028, the “committed, non-interventionist, America-First Ted Cruz” could carry his banner inside the party.
“He’s clearly running for president,” Vance added, more seriously.
Mike Gonzalez, a South Carolina pastor who co-chaired Cruz’s 2016 campaign there, said Cruz could run in 2028 as a “strict constitutional conservative versus that nationalism, populism, kind of candidate that Trump has” inspired.
Another Cruz 2016 supporter, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, said Cruz “leans toward old-school fiscal conservatism” and was not necessarily being “hawkish” toward Iran but “the angst and concern of the American electorate … because we don’t trust Iran.”
Both agreed that a primary between Vance and Cruz could benefit the party. Gonzalez said he would “love to see (Cruz) and JD Vance debate toe-to-toe.”
“I truly believe that this is a healthy discussion that the party must have and that the conservative movement should have going forward, post-President Trump,” Rodriguez said.
Deace anticipates Cruz’s support for Israel would remain popular with many older evangelical voters that are key to nominating contests in Iowa and South Carolina, as well as with some top GOP donors like Miriam Adelson, who has a longstanding relationship with the Texas Republican.
Deace said the issue of Israel “gives Ted a lane to at least justify running again and it’ll be enough for Ted to be welcomed back as a candidate.”
“But he’s going to have to show he has broader MAGA appeal to win,” Deace added.
The challenge could be seen earlier this year at the Conservative Political Action Conference held just outside Dallas. There, Cruz outlined a vision for a Republican Party that combines Trump’s populism and bedrock GOP principles like small government, low taxes and limited regulations.
The home-state crowd warmly received their junior senator. But when CPAC organizers polled attendees on their pick for president in 2028, Vance was the overwhelming favorite followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Just 1% picked Cruz.
Cruz’s endorsement of Wilson made him a key figure in a political debacle for Trump in South Carolina. Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette in the primary, but after she advanced to a runoff against Wilson, Cruz endorsed Wilson and a pro-Cruz super PAC launched TV ads boosting him.
Evette sought to make Cruz’s skepticism of the Iran peace deal a liability for Wilson, calling on him to condemn Cruz’s “attacks on President Trump.”
Trump announced two days later he would be supporting both candidates in the runoff. Cruz downplayed any tensions with Trump over the contest, telling CNN they “agree on the vast majority of races, and I was very pleased to see that the president agreed with me on this one.”
Alumni of Cruz’s 2016 campaign attended some of his stops with Wilson, and Cruz deployed some lines that were staples of his old stump speech.
“God bless the great state of South Carolina,” Cruz said after taking the microphone Monday evening in Columbia, addressing a packed barbecue restaurant. He drew applause while reviving his call to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and put a “padlock” on its headquarters, a promise he made repeatedly in 2016.
Cruz paid homage to South Carolina repeatedly and bantered with local reporters about his barbecue preferences. “The best sauce is no sauce at all,” he opined.
During an earlier stop in Sumter, a town about an hour outside Columbia, an audience member asked Cruz about his interest in serving on the Supreme Court. He gave the response he has given for years: While it is “flattering” to be talked about that way, he could never withdraw from “political fights” the way a justice would have to.
After the Columbia event, Robert Alt, a 78-year-old retiree from nearby Chapin, said it was “too early” for 2028 speculation but said Cruz is among several potential candidates that he likes.
“I think that right now Vance, I would say, is probably the chosen one,” Alt said, “but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be chosen.”
The attendees suggested they saw a pathway for Cruz even if Vance runs. Jim Hartman, an 85-year-old insurance agent from Columbia, praised both Cruz and Vance but said he thought Cruz was a more committed conservative who would “stand firm.”
Michael Alfaro, a 40-year-old Wilson supporter who came to the Columbia rally, said Cruz’s decision to endorse Wilson when Trump was exclusively backing Evette “is going to be remembered here” and could even serve as a “roadmap” for the Texas Republican in the future.
Why? “Because he’s going to run for president,” Alfaro said.
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