Sen. Ted Cruz failed to win the endorsement of the Houston Chronicle, the biggest newspaper in the city in grew up in, even after it supported his bid for the U.S. Senate six years ago.
Despite mostly endorsing Republican presidential candidates going all the way back to the 1930s, the newspaper this time is boosting Beto O’Rourke, the congressman who is Cruz’s Democratic challenger.
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The newspaper sternly rebuked Cruz for his performance in office, saying he’s the junior senator for Texas “in name only.”
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“Exhibiting little interest in addressing the needs of his fellow Texans during his six years in office, he has kept his eyes on a higher prize,” an editorial said.
It criticized him for his role in the 2013 government shutdown, “an exercise in self-aggrandizement” that it said “undercut the economy” and “cost taxpayers an estimated $2 billion.”
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The newspaper also noted the “bipartisan disdain” that Cruz has from colleagues in D.C. — it mentioned Republican ex-House Speaker John Boehner calling him “Lucifer,” and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham saying that, “if you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
“His repellent personality hamstrings his ability to do the job,” the editorial said.
In contrast, the newspaper said O’Rourke has focused on policy positions “in keeping with a candidate duly aware of the traditionally conservative Texas voter he would be representing in the U.S. Senate.”
Newsweek noted that the Chronicle has endorsed 14 Republican presidential candidates and seven Democrats since 1932.
Cruz’s campaign did not offer any comment to Newsweek on the newspaper’s editorial; O’Rourke’s hadn’t responded on Friday night.
Born in Calgary, Alta., Cruz grew up in Houston and went to Harvard Law School.
He later worked as a lawyer before he entered politics.
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to hold a rally in support of Cruz in Houston on Oct. 22.
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