Coates noted Cruz’s tense relationship with his colleagues but said it had never been personal; and on the topic of whether Cruz will campaign for fellow Republicans up for re-election, Coates said “I think you could probably surmise from what he did in 2014 which is, ‘if people want me I’ll come, if they want me to stay away I’ll stay away.’ Certainly from his perspective as a senator keeping as many seats as we can in the senate is a priority.”
But some doubt that Cruz did enough to win people over to his cause during the campaign, and indeed, many in his party withheld their endorsement or endorsed Trump over him even though he was the last viable non-Trump option.
“He’s just not a guy who can reach across and bring people on board,” said one anti-Trump Republican strategist. “He did not go out of his way to try and bring people together.”
“I figure he just stays the course” for 2020, the strategist said. “I think he only has one gear.”
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