Ted Cruz Refuses to Endorse Donald Trump Over DeSantis: 'Staying Out of It'

Ted Cruz has refused to endorse either Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis to be the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, arguing that backing either candidate would damage his Senate re-election hopes.

The Republican from Texas called the GOP primary campaign "essentially a two-man race between Trump and DeSantis" during an interview on the conservative Newsmax network and pledged to back the victor in the upcoming presidential election.

A recent Cygnal poll gave Trump a commanding lead over his rivals with 53 percent of GOP voters saying he would be their preferred Republican presidential candidate for 2024. Business tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy came in second on 11 percent, just ahead of DeSantis on 10 percent. Ramaswamy has also risen to third place in the race according to an amalgamation of bookies' odds, as the Florida governor struggles to maintain ground.

"When it comes to the primary I'm staying out of it," Cruz, who ran unsuccessfully for president against Trump in 2016, said. "I think the primary is essentially a two-man race between Trump and DeSantis. I'm very good friends with President Trump, I'm very good friends with Ron DeSantis. I think Ron has done a fantastic job as the governor of Florida...the issues are going to be contested and I think the voters are going to decide."

Cruz argued backing either Trump or DeSantis could damage his re-election hopes by alienating part of the Republican base.

"I'm staying out of that for many reasons, one of which is that I'm running for re-election in the great state of Texas and we're expecting a serious fight in Texas on my re-elect," he said. "[Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer has made clear that I'm the number one target for him and for the Democrats this cycle and from my perspective, I'd like the support of every Trump supporter and every DeSantis supporter so I'm staying out of it."

Cruz said, though, that he would back the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, whoever it may be.

"I trust the primary voters to make that determination and whoever wins the nomination I'm going to support enthusiastically in November of 2024 because I think the path we're on right now is disastrous, it's hurting 30 million Texans and it's hurting Americans all across the country," he said.

Newsweek reached out to Cruz via the contact form on his official website for comment on Thursday.

A clip of Cruz's remarks was shared online by Midas Touch, a progressive-leaning news site.

In June the "Lose Cruz" Super PAC launched in a bid to dethrone Cruz in 2024, with Time magazine reporting the group started with a seven-figure war chest.

Sean Haynes, founder of "Lose Cruz," told Axios that the group aims to be "a good old fashioned attack machine to expose all of Ted Cruz's deplorable actions and the consequences of them."

House Democrat Colin Allred announced he plans to run against Cruz in May, and has already raised nearly $6.2 million, according to The Texas Tribune.

While Texas hasn't elected a Democratic senator for nearly 30 years, Cruz only narrowly beat Democrat challenger Beto O'Rourke in 2018 by about 2.6 percent of the vote.