Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) didn't hold back when offering his assessment of what went wrong for Republicans on Tuesday night, even calling the electoral thrashing a "Watergate-level repudiation" of his party.
Cruz delivered his blistering message in a lengthy X post Wednesday evening and repeated it verbatim on his weekly podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz (embedded below).
And he forthrightly pointed the finger squarely at Republicans themselves, writing, "When all the votes were counted, the problem wasn't turnout. Instead, our voters, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, showed up and voted, and rejected our candidates, voting Democrat instead."
The senator had more harsh truths for his party: "2026 was not simply a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami. It was an ass kicking. It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation."
Harsh, but fair.
He, of course, had thoughts about what happened in his home state of Texas, where Democrats swept every statewide race and ended decades of Republican dominance.
"Texas is blue," Cruz acknowledged. "That is a hard sentence to utter."
History was made last night.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 4, 2026
For months, we were saying that 2026 was the most consequential midterm election of our lifetimes.
Unfortunately, we were right. Sometimes history is to be celebrated; other times, it is to be mourned. Always, it must be reckoned with.
2026 was…
Cruz blamed much of the GOP's spectacular collapse on Republicans' failure to address the economic struggles of everyday Americans, arguing that politicians were too busy bragging about the positive economic indicators to actually recognize the financial hardships being experienced by voters.
That is very real pain from real Americans, and too many Republican politicians seem like they didn't understand or they didn't care. Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high.
He also took aim at tariffs and the war in Iran, saying both contributed to voters' frustrations.
"Understandably, people were pissed off, and elected Republicans didn't do enough to address their very real pain," Cruz said.
So, where does the GOP go from here?
Cruz laid out a two-part plan: fight the Democrats' radical agenda and rebuild the faltering Republican coalition.
The senator warned that Democrats plan to pursue higher taxes and launch relentless investigations into Trump and his administration, but pledged to work across the aisle when possible, revealing he'd already congratulated James Talarico on his win.
To rebuild, he said Republicans must win back blue-collar workers, young voters, Hispanics, and rural Americans by focusing on policies that actually improve their lives.
"Tragically, we alienated rural America," he admitted. "We will rebuild as a true blue-collar party, not by embracing socialism, but by being real free-market conservatives."
Cruz ended with a hopeful message for his fellow Texans who are smarting from the Democrat landslide: "Texas will be red again," he vowed.
So, two days after the midterms, we have now heard from Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis, and JD Vance. Is the 2028 presidential primary now well and truly underway?