Senator Ted Cruz said Democrats are "drunk on their own power" after their midterm victories, predicting the party will overreach despite what he described as a "generationally damaging" defeat for Republicans. Speaking on his Verdict podcast Friday, the Texas Republican argued Democratic leaders will interpret their gains as a mandate for a broader progressive agenda, even though he believes voters were primarily expressing frustration over economic concerns. "These guys are drunk on their own power," Cruz said.
"They are high on their own supply." Cruz claims Democratic leaders are already misreading the election results. "The radicals are running the Democrat Party," he said. "They believe they have a mandate." The comments came as Cruz assessed the scale of Republican losses nationwide, which handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress and expanded the party's Senate majority.
"We're already at 54 Democrats. We could be at 56," Cruz said. "That is generationally damaging." Cruz argued Senate defeats are particularly difficult to overcome because senators serve six-year terms, potentially locking in Democratic gains for years.
"It will take six years to have the chance to turn them around," he said. "Retaking the majority in the Senate is very, very difficult." Texas political analyst Scott Braddock, editor of Quorum Report, offered a different interpretation on his show, arguing Democrats won because James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa and other candidates remained focused on voters' economic concerns. "Republicans kept trying to bait them into having arguments about culture wars," Braddock said on his podcast.
Instead, he said, Democrats stayed "laser focused" on affordability and the economy. "It's the economy, stupid, and guess what? It still is." Democrats swept every statewide race in Republicans' most populous stronghold Tuesday, ending a three-decade losing streak.
Talarico, Democratic state representative, defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had President Donald Trump's support, despite a series of scandals. Hinojosa, also a state representative, upset three-term Republican Governor Greg Abbott to become the state's first Hispanic governor. In the lieutenant governor's race, Democratic state lawmaker Vikki Goodwin ousted Republican incumbent Dan Patrick.
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