Ted Cruz Marks 10 Years In Senate, Here's A Rundown Of His Career Highs & Lows

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., completed 10 years in the Senate on Nov. 6. He made history by becoming the first Hispanic citizen from Texas to win the Senate race with a 57 percent lead over his Democratic challenger Paul Sadler in 2012.

Cruz shared a tweet Sunday night to honor the career benchmark. "Ten years ago today... The people of Texas elected me to the Senate. Heidi & I were so young & our girls were just 2 & 4. I'm deeply grateful to the army of grassroots activists who won our unlikely victory. It is an immense privilege to represent 30 million Texans. Thank you," he wrote.

However, the polarizing politician's tweet drew criticism from netizens, with several users mirroring a similar sentiment, "and what have you done to objectively make their lives any better?"

Significantly, Ted Cruz is not on the ballot in the midterms and will be up for reelection in 2024. Meanwhile, here is a rundown of his career highs and lows, and everything in between.

Ted Cruz's dwindling approval ratings

A survey published by Statista Research Department earlier this month showed 34 percent of respondents held a very unfavorable opinion of Cruz. The survey, which was conducted in May this year, indicated only 18 percent of respondents held a favorable opinion of the senator.

A survey conducted in August at Austin's University of Texas by the Texas Politics Project showed 37 percent of respondents strongly disapprove of the Congressman, compared to 22% of those who affirmed their approval.

In October 2021, the same survey resulted in 38% of respondents strongly disapproving of him, while 30% strongly approving of his policies.

Bills introduced

Of a number of things that Senator Cruz is passionate about, he has been championing the pro-life stance time and again. As a result, Cruz introduced multiple bills that fitted his agenda.

One of them was the S124 bill named "Abortion is Not Health Care Act of 2021." The bill was summarized: "To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that amounts paid for an abortion are not taken into account for purposes of the deduction for medical expenses."

Ted Cruz vs Joe Biden

Cruz has constantly attacked the Democrats on a number of issues, including the border crisis. Another topic that he's passionately spoken about is president Biden's loan forgiveness plan.

Biden and Cruz have gone back and forth about the issue on numerous occasions. "Ted Cruz said that folks who are receiving student debt relief are a bunch of "slackers." Who in God's name do these guys think they are?" said a tweet by Biden Sunday.

In response, Cruz wrote, "Biden know he's going to lose on Tues, so now he's just lying. He said gas was $5/gallon when he became President—LIE. He said the border is secure—LIE. He knows his billion-dollar student loan give-away takes from blue-collar workers & gives to Ivy League grads. So he LIES."

When he was nicknamed Cancun Cruz

Cruz made the disastrous decision of flying out to Mexico's Cancun for a family trip as millions of Texans froze in their homes due to widespread power outages in the face of a historical snowstorm in February 2021.

Thousands of Twitter users blasted him for making the ill-timed trip and his explanation behind the same made matters worse. "With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying back this afternoon," Cruz said. In the aftermath, he was nicknamed Cancun Cruz, and a year and a half later, the name has stuck.

When the Satanic Temple refused to accept him

The conservative firebrand was compared to Lucifer by former House Speaker John Boehner in 2016. His remark caused havoc within the Satanic Temple to the point that it released a statement urging people to refrain from drawing comparisons.

"Cruz' failures of reason, compassion, decency and humanity are products of his Christian pandering, if not an actual Christian faith," Lucien Greaves, founder of the Satanic Temple, said about Boehmer's "Lucifer in the flesh" comment that was directed at Cruz, according to Esquire.

"It grows tedious when pedophile priests and loathsome politicians are conveniently dismissed as Satanic, even as they spew biblical verse and prostrate themselves before the cross, recruiting the Christian faithful. Satanists will have nothing to do with any of them," Greaves added.

When he feuded with Chrissy Teigen

Chrissy Teigen lost her unborn son Jack in 2020 after a complication. Talking about the challenging phase on Sept. 15, Teigen recalled going through an abortion since her life was in danger and her son was removed from her body. "Let's just call it what it was: It was an abortion," she said, according to MySanAntonio.

Cruz argued it wasn't an abortion because it fell under a life-of-the-mother exception. "There is nobody, even the most robust pro-life advocates, nobody argues that when the woman's life is in danger that you can't take extraordinary medical steps to preserve the mother's life," Cruz said on his "Verdict" podcast.

When he appeared "disinterested" while looking at Uvalde victim's casket photo

In October, Cruz met the parents of Lexi Rubio, one of the victims who died in the aftermath of the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde. They have been pushing for stricter gun laws in schools.

Rubio's mother shared a photo of herself showing a picture of her daughter lying in her casket to Cruz. Twitter users lambasted the senator, accusing him of exhibiting a "couldn't care less" attitude while looking at the photo. Cruz's stance on banning assault weapons in the state remains unchanged as an estimated 37% population continues to own guns.