Ted Cruz really, really hates mornings

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 17 February 2016

While there are some candidates who will wake up at the crack of dawn to hit the campaign trail, Sen. Ted Cruz is decidedly not one of them. Even as his opponents are rising-and-shining for 8 a.m. events across South Carolina, Cruz's earliest event this week began at 10 a.m. Instead, the Texas senator prefers evening events, eating his dinner typically around 10 or 11 p.m.

"If I wanted an answer to something, there was no way I'd send it before 10 a.m., because I knew it would get lost in the flow and he wouldn't get to it until later that night," Cruz's Senate communications director Amanda Carpenter explained to The Washington Post.

The night owl campaign has its pitfalls, however. In Missouri Valley, Iowa, Cruz showed up to a truck-stop at 10:45 p.m. At another stop, there was no taco pizza at "Taco pizza with Ted" because the event started too late, after 10 p.m. Sometimes Cruz has so many warm up speakers that attendees leave before he gets on stage; one weeknight in Des Moines, an event went so late that people left while Cruz was still talking.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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