Texas lawmakers, allies not ready to endorse Cruz

Sen. Ted Cruz’s GOP allies are staying on the sidelines for now in the race for president. 

The Hill reached out to all 25 House Republican members of the Texas delegation and some of Cruz’s closest allies just after the freshman announced his bid on Monday for the White House. But so far, all are staying mum on whether they will endorse him in 2016.

“Ted is a good friend and would be an outstanding President,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), adding that he hadn’t “ruled out an exporatory committee myself,” in a statement to The Hill. An aide to the Tea Party favorite said Thursday he wasn’t being serious about his own run, but Gohmert has yet to offer his full support to Cruz.

{mosads}Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Raúl Labrador (Idaho), Marlin Stutzman (Ind.), and Tim Huelskamp (Kan.), are conservative firebrands believed to be close to the Texas senator, having met with him in past strategy sessions.

But their offices told The Hill the lawmakers have yet to decide who to endorse from the large pool of GOP hopefuls.

On Monday, Cruz became the first official presidential candidate, delivering an address at Liberty University.

He’s expected to have competition from as many as 20 other Republican hopefuls, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.). The crowded field could make it hard for Cruz to stand out with his conservative message.

Cruz touted his record in Congress this week, dismissing comparisons to President Obama, who also ran for the nation’s highest office as a freshman senator.

But even Cruz’s closest ally in the upper chamber, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), says he isn’t ready to endorse a candidate.

Lee released a brief statement after Cruz’s announcement encouraging Republicans to focus on the candidates’ agendas, explicitly avoiding any reference to Cruz.

“I look forward to seeing how each of the candidates plan to apply conservative principles to reform our dysfunctional federal government and fix our broken status quo,” he said.

Lee supported Cruz in a number of political fights including one over ObamaCare that led to the 2013 government shutdown.

His fellow Texan, Sen. John Cornyn (R) also said this week that he was “going to watch from the sidelines,” according to reports.

Even former Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), whom Cruz followed in the upper chamber, is snubbing him for Jeb Bush.

She told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner on Wednesday that she believes Bush “is exactly what we need right now.”

“I think he will have a vision and I think he will implement the vision because he’s been a governor, he’s run things. He knows business, and I think he will help our economy,” she said.

Lucy Feickert, Kelly Kaler and Alison Thoet contributed.