Ted Cruz is an attorney and a politician. He currently represents Texas as one of its Senators. Cruz has been the junior Senator from Texas since 2013, and he ran in the 2016 Presidential election; however, he left the race after disappointing poll numbers. He would later throw his support behind the eventual candidate, Donald Trump. Cruz became one of Trump’s most ardent supporters, although the two had sparred regularly during the primaries. Cruz has spent most of his life in politics; he clerked for former Supreme Court Justice Scalia and was the Solicitor General for the state of Texas before his initial run for political office.
| Celebrated Name: | Ted Cruz |
| Real Name/Full Name: | Rafael Edward Cruz |
| Gender: | Male |
| Age: | 51 |
| Birthdate: | December 22, 1970 |
| Birthplace: | Calgary, Alberta (Canada) |
| Nationality: | American |
| Height: | 5 ft. 9 in. |
| Weight: | 176 lb. |
| Sexual Orientation: | Straight |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Wife/Spouse | Heidi Cruz (nee’ Nelson) |
| Children/Kids: | Two daughers: Caroline and Catherine |
| Dating/Girlfriend Name: | N/A |
| Is Ted Cruz Gay? | No |
| Highest Political Office: | United States Senator |
| Profession: | Attorney and American Politician |
| Colleges Attended: | Princeton University, Harvard University |
| Degrees: | Bachelor of Arts, Public Policy; Juris Doctor, Harvard Law School |
| Salary: | $174,000 |
| Net Worth in 2022: | $4 million |
Biography: Early Life and Family
Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz was born on December 22, 1970 at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. to parents Rafael and Eleanor Darragh Cruz. Ted’s mother was born in Wilmington, Delaware while his father was born in Cuba and immigrated to America for an education. Cruz’ father was granted political asylum in the United States, but he would earn Canadian citizenship in 1973, then become a naturalized citizen of the United States in 2005. It is important to know these facts about Cruz’ parents as many would question Cruz’ eligibility to run for president in the 2016 presidential race.
Eventually, a judge would rule that since Cruz’ mother was a citizen and his father had become a citizen of the country that Cruz was indeed an American. Cruz had renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2013, three years prior to his run for the Oval Office.
Cruz’ mother can trace her lineage as both Irish and Italian, but Cruz’ father’s story resonates heavily with many of the junior Senator’s constituents. Cruz’ father relates that he was beaten by the agents of Fulgencio Batista as Cruz opposed the dictator’s regime. Once he was given a visa to attend school in the United States, the elder Cruz never went back to Cuba.
Cruz’ parents both worked in the oil and gas industry in Calgary and the Cruz family only lived in Canada for three years. In 1974, when Cruz was only four, his father moved back to Texas. However, Mr. and Mrs. Cruz would reconcile and eventually move the family to Houston. The pair eventually divorced in 1997. Ted’s mother has remarried and her last name is now Wilson.
Cruz has two half-sisters as a result of his father’s marriage prior to marrying Ted’s mother.
Cruz first began using the moniker “Ted” when he was thirteen.
Ted Cruz attended school in Houston, Texas. He attended a public school for a number of years, Awty International. He would later graduate from the private school, the Second Baptist H.S. in 1988 as the class valedictorian.
In 1992, Cruz graduated with cum laude honors from Princeton University. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy. He was a talented speaker at two different national debating championships. In 1992, he was named National Speaker of the Year, and he would continue debating while studying at Harvard Law School. In fact, one of Princeton’s novice debate championships is named after Ted Cruz.
Cruz is known for his one hundred fifteen-page senior thesis written in order to complete his studies at Princeton. This thesis was titled Clipping the Wings of Angels: The History and Theory Behind the Ninth and Tenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
Cruz would attend the Harvard School of Law between 1992 and 1995. He graduated from this school magna cum laude while earning a Juris Doctor distinction.
During his time at Harvard, Cruz was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and he was an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. Cruz would also found a new publication, the Harvard Latino Law Review. Cruz was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. One of his former professors, Alan Dershowitz has said of Cruz that the young man was “off-the-charts brilliant.”
Personal Life
On May 27, 2001, Ted Cruz married Heidi Nelson. Together, the pair have two daughters, Catherine and Caroline. Cruz met Heidi when he was working on the 2000 presidential campaign supporting then-candidate George W. Bush. Heidi has also worked in politics. She has worked for Condoleeza Rice when she was on Bush 43’s Cabinet. Heidi has also worked as an investment banker in New York City.
The Cruz family maintains a home in River Oaks, Texas.
Age, Height, and Weight
Ted Cruz is 50 years old. He is 5’9″ in height and weighs 176 pounds.
Net Worth
Senator Ted Cruz is estimated to have a net worth of between $3 and $4 million.
When Cruz graduated from Harvard, he worked in various positions as both a legal advisor to politicians as well as the Solicitor General for the state of Texas. Cruz not only clerked for Antonin Scalia but for other prominent judges as well. Cruz worked in the private sector as an attorney at the firm of Cooper, Carvin, and Rosenthal. However, he did not stay at this position very long before he began working on the presidential campaign of George W. Bush. He was often a domestic policy advisor for George W. Bush as well. In 2003, he was appointed by Gregg Abbott as the Solicitor General of Texas. Cruz would appear before the Supreme Court at least nine times during this time in this important position.
This is the most appearances a practicing lawyer in Texas has ever made.
It is estimated that most of Cruz’ earnings have come from his work in politics and as a Solicitor General.
Career Outside of Politics
Cruz only worked in the private sector for a short time, working with the private firm of Cooper, Carvin and Rosenthal. Cruz also clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia among other prominent judges. Otherwise, most of Cruz’ career has been in politics of some sort.
Career in Politics
Cruz initially ran for the office of Texas’ junior Senator in May 2012. He first ran in a primary against nine other Republican candidates. The initial primary saw Cruz and fellow Republican David Dewhurst too close to call, so a run-off was held in July 2012. Ted Cruz would win the Republican nomination by 57 percent of the vote. Cruz would then face Democratic opponent Paul Sadler in November 2012 by a margin of 56 percent to 40 percent of the vote.
In 2016, Ted Cruz threw his hat in the ring for the presidential race. Cruz was among upwards of sixteen candidates vying for the Republican nomination. Ted Cruz won about 25 percent of the vote (cumulatively); he would later drop out of the race and throw support behind the eventual nominee, Donald Trump. Although Cruz and Trump had sparred vigorously during the debates, the pair became allies once Cruz was no longer in the race.
While a member of the Senate, Cruz has sponsored one hundred and five bills of his own, many of them with great merit. He introduced S.177, which was a bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, during 2013. He also introduced S.1336, a bill which would permit States to require proof of citizenship in order to register for voting privileges in federal elections. S.2170, introduced by Cruz on March 27, 2014, would have approved the construction of the Keystone Pipeline, increased the export of natural gas, oil, and coal, expanded off-shore drilling activities, and give states the power of regulating hydraulic fracking, among other issues to do with fossil fuels.
Cruz was a leading Congressman in the 2013 government shutdown. He gave a twenty-one hour speech on the floor of the Senate in an attempt to put off the vote on a federal budget bill and hopefully defund the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. During the lengthy speech, Cruz read aloud from Dr. Seuss’ children’s book Green Eggs and Ham. Cruz and others convinced then-Speaker of the House John Boehner to include the defunding of Obamacare in the budget bill. However, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would block the filibuster as only eighteen Republican Senators supported the move.
Cruz is considered highly conservative and was a part of the Tea Party movement that swept through the country in the second term of Obama’s presidency.
Today, Cruz is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Lately, he has been outspoken in questioning witnesses before the committee, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland over questions as to whether parents in Virginia were being investigated as terrorists (something Garland has denied) and Dr. Anthony Fauci regarding gain-of-function testing in the Wuhan Lab in China as well as any possible American taxpayer money funding the research.
