Ted Cruz dodges key issue that’s become major 'political liability' for GOP

During the 1990s and 2000s, Republicans typically won statewide races in Texas by double digits. But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) narrowly defeated Democrat Beto O'Rourke in the 2018 midterms, and in 2024, Cruz has been warning fellow Republicans not to underestimate the Democratic challenger he faces this year: Rep. Colin Allred, who trails Cruz by only 4 percent in an early September poll from The Hill and Emerson College.

One issue that Cruz has aggressively campaigned on in the past is abortion.

But journalist Joe Perticone, in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on September 12, stresses that the Texas Republican hasn't been talking about abortion nearly as much during his 2024 reelection campaign.

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"For the entirety of his Senate career," Perticone explains, "Ted Cruz has been a warrior for the pro-life/anti-abortion movement. Banning abortion has been a major political priority for him. But now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and some states are instituting abortion bans, Cruz — christened 'The Absolutist' in a New Yorker profile ten years ago — is approaching the issue quite differently."

Perticone notes that during his 2012 campaign, Cruz "opposed abortion in all cases except those where the life of the mother was at risk" — whereas in 2024, he "has decided to push the issue to the backseat of his policy agenda, if not avoid it entirely."

According to Perticone, Cruz's 2024 campaign shows how much of a "liability" abortion has become for Republicans.

"The Supreme Court fulfilled a major wish of Cruz and other anti-abortion politicians when it overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022," Perticone writes. "Since Dobbs v. Jackson was handed down, states like Texas have begun implementing sweeping abortion bans. These have become something of a political liability for Republicans."

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Joe Perticone's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link (subscription required).