Cruz in control as his Tea Party candidates win primaries in Nebraska and position him as November kingmaker
Ted Cruz has only been a Senator for a year and a half, but already he's seen as a Tea Party leader and a national political player
If Cruz is able to add more Republicans to the Senate who share his way of thinking, last fall's government shutdown could be the first of a more heavy handed approach by the GOP to halt the presidents agenda
ByFrancesca Chambers
Published: 17:09 EST, 14 May 2014 | Updated: 07:42 EST, 15 May 2014
Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz claimed his first victory in the battle to control the Republican Party on Tuesday night when his two candidates in Nebraska won their primary elections.
Cruz endorsed gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts and Senate candidate Ben Sasse won their respective primary races, positioning Cruz as kingmaker in November.
'Ben Sasse�s decisive victory in Nebraska tonight is a clear indication that the grassroots are rising up to Make DC Listen. They�re rising up to take our country back,' Cruz posted to his Facebook.
Cruz won his own Senate primary in 2012 after being endorsed by then-Senator Jim DeMint, the upper chamber's resident kingmaker at the time.
DeMint left the Senate to run conservative non-profit The Heritage Foundation just as Cruz was taking office, and Cruz has since sought to fill his mentor's shoes.
The former Texas solicitor general is only in his second year as a U.S. Senator, yet he is already considered a Tea Party leader and a likely 2016 presidential candidate.
After making his maiden speech on the Senate floor during frenemie Rand Paul's filibuster of the Obama administration's drone policy in March 2013, Cruz held a talkathon of his own in October over Obamacare.
During the 21-hour speech that resulted in a 16 day government shutdown, Cruz quoted Ayn Rand, Ashton Kutcher, Dr. Seuss, Duck Dynasty, Toby Keith and tried to 'make DC listen' to the problems Obamacare has caused average Americans.
The speech, while not technically a filibuster, was the fourth longest speech in U.S. Senate history, and it propelled him to the finalist list for Time Magazine's Person of the Year.
Cruz ended up losing the award to Pope Francis, but his selection for the short-list showed that not only was DC listening to him, the whole country was.
In a CNN presidential poll released last week, Cruz landed in the middle of the pack, trailing Paul by six points and beating fellow Tea Party Senator Marco Rubio by only a single digit.
So far Cruz has farer better than Paul in the endorsement race, however. Paul's Senate candidate in North Carolina lost to House Speaker Thom Tillis in last week's GOP primary. Rubio has not made any endorsements this election cycle.
In Nebraska, Cruz's Senate candidate Ben Sasse, a university president, sailed to victory, winning 49 percent of the vote and beating out establishment candidate and former state treasurer Shane Osborn as well as self-funder and Pinnicle Bank president Sid Dinsdale.
Sasse is the favorite to win the general election against Democratic candidate David Domina,a trial attorney. A Magellen Strategies poll taken last week had Sasse beating Domina by double digits - and that was with Osborn still on the ballot.
'We urgently need conservative reinforcements in the Senate like Ben who will stand with the American people, not the Washington establishment,' Cruz said of Sasse after his win on Tuesday.
'Ben is a constitutional conservative who will not just �check the box� and vote the right way. He�ll affirmatively fight to advance the conservative agenda, repeal Obamacare, and defend the Constitution.'
Cruz's gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts pulled out a close win over over Attorney General Jon Bruning with 26.3 percent of the vote to Bruning's 25.6 percent.
Ricketts is the son of Chicago Cubs owner and TD Ameritrade founder Joseph Ricketts. Rickets will square off against Democratic candidate Chuck Hassebrook in November and is expected to win.
'Pete Ricketts is not a career politician � he�s an outsider who fights for conservative values,' Cruz wrote on his Facebook, adding that Ricketts understands that without onerous government regulations, 'individual spirit will flourish.'
Cruz's success rate at hand picking winners and losers will have little effect on his presidential aspirations. It will affect how much power he has withing the Republican caucus on the Hill, however.
If Cruz - the vice chair of the Senate Republicans' political arm - is able to build up the number of Senators who share his way of thinking, it will be more difficult for others in the Republican caucus who disagree with his approach to government to stand in his way.
Last fall's government shutdown could be the first of many heavy handed tactics Republicans use in the Senate to fight Democrats' agenda if Cruz takes the reins.
Cruz faces his next test in the form of Oklahoma Senate candidate T.W. Shannon.
Shannon, who is of Native American and African-American descent, is a representative in Oklahoma's state house. He is hoping to replace retiring Republican Senator Tom Coburn in the U.S. Senate.
'T.W. Shannon is a strong Constitutional conservative who will fight for individual liberty and help turn our country around,' Cruz said in a statement endorsing Shannon in April. 'T.W. embodies the American dream.'
'I�m proud to offer T.W. my enthusiastic endorsement because not only will he vote the right way, but he�ll stand up and fight with us in the Senate to stop President Obama�s assault on our liberties and defend America�s founding principles.'
Shannon faces Congressman James Lankford in the June 24 primary.
Polls show Lankford, who is in his second term in the House of Representatives, leading Shannon by a large margin.
The only thing worse than a liberal is a liberal that thinks they're a conservative.
