Cruz, Abbott Out Of 2024 Presidential Race:...Good!!!...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | Rafael Edward Cruz, better-known as Ted Cruz, the annoying, smarmy U.S. Senator from Texas, won't be a part of the Republican Party's 2024 presidential clown show. Not this time.

And neither will another Texan who'd sort of made an effort by acting like a Lone Star State version of Donald J. Trump - Greg Abbott, the governor.

Cruz has told the news media he's out; Abbott likely is glad he never entered the nomination process. For him, it is too late.

Earlier this year, Cruz told supporters on a call that he will be running for reelection in 2024 and will not seek the Republican nomination for president. "I'm on the ballot in 2024," he said recently, according to the Houston Chronicle. "I'm running for re-election."

Abbott, meanwhile, just won reelection last year. There are those who have been saying that much of the tough-guy posturing from him has come in anticipation of a run for president. But the 65-year-old, wheelchair-bound Republican has been mum. He's been governor since 2015 and likely likes the job.

Cruz, at age 52, has time to go for it again later on. He has not quite been the "busy legislator type," as Cruz-sponsored bills are rare and far between. More often than not, he has been a joke and punching bag for the press.

Plus, he no doubt remembers the whipping he (and his wife, Heidi) got at the hands of then-candidate Trump in the 2016 race. It was then, for one, that Cruz heard Trump call his wife ugly. There was no meaningful reply in defending her honor from the Cuban-American Cruz.

It'll be interesting if Abbott gets a looksee for vice-president, however.

But, sure, you do wonder if he'd take that thankless, second-banana job. Look at what it tends to do to those who do take it.

Just ask Mike Pence...

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