Why Democrats are going after Ted Cruz

Hint: It may help them win elections

Ted Cruz
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Image)

Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) hasn't been in national politics long, but he has already become a favorite target for Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) slammed Cruz as a "schoolyard bully" for opposing any compromise on the budget. Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Cruz, a Cuban-American, shouldn't be "defined as a Hispanic" due to his stand against immigration reform. Political experts say even President Obama's trip to Texas this week is partly aimed at tweaking Cruz and boosting Democrats on his home turf.

What is it that bothers Democrats so much about Cruz? His admirers say the liberal lions of D.C. feel threatened by Cruz and fellow upstarts Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Reid has blocked GOP senators from "offering amendments to even the most trivial legislation," says Peter Roff at U.S. News and World Report. "He has turned the world's greatest deliberative body into a legislative quagmire where almost nothing gets done and almost the only way for the Republican minority to get a point across is through a filibuster."

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.