This document analyzes the effectiveness of Ted Cruz's representation of Texans as their U.S. Senator from 2013 to 2020. It examines his representation on descriptive, substantive, and symbolic levels. Descriptively, Cruz aligns well with Texas demographics as a Hispanic, Southern Baptist Republican. Substantively, his voting record matches Texas public policy preferences most of the time. Symbolically, Cruz's reputation fluctuated after his 2015 presidential run and close 2018 reelection, indicating weaker representation. As Texas demographics shift increasingly liberal, Cruz may struggle to effectively represent the state long-term.

1. Assessing the Effectiveness of Sen. Ted Cruz’s Representation of Texans
Mira McKee – mkm3475
GOV370L: Public Opinion & Representation
Due: Wednesday, May 13th
Junior U.S. Senator for Texas, Ted Cruz, has represented the state for over seven years now,
from the years 2013 to 2020. But, has he represented Texans effectively? Certainly, his ability to
get elected at all (as well as re-elected in 2018) in a political system that uses elections as an
accountability mechanism, alludes to the idea that he is indeed an effective representative.
Though I find that he represents me personally on neither a descriptive nor a substantive level, he
may represent Texans or Texas as a whole in both of these ways. By exploring factors such as
the demographic and ideological descriptors of himself and of Texas, how his unsuccessful
presidential run in 2015 affected his reputation, and the competitive election against highly
“symbolic” opponent Beto O’Rourke in 2018, we can gain a better understanding for whether or
not Ted Cruz is an effective representative on a descriptive, substantive, and symbolic level. In
addition, by considering how Texas continues to grow and shift demographically (and thus
ideologically), we will find that perhaps a Senator who once was very in tune with his
constituents is finding himself no longer so—not because he’s changed, but because they have.

2. Rafael Edward Cruz, known personally and professionally as Ted Cruz, works alongside John
Cornyn as a United States Senator, representing the constituents of the state of Texas. A very
qualified politician, Cruz graduated with a degree in public policy from Princeton and attended
law school at Harvard before serving in many positions within the federal and state government,
including a Domestic Policy Advisor to George W. Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign
and the longest-serving (and first Hispanic) Solicitor General in Texas history. Some highlights
of Ted Cruz’s career include unexpectedly winning his current senate seat in the 2012 election
against the sitting Lieutenant Governor, being a major player in the 2013 government shutdown
(where he filibustered for 21 hours against the Affordable Care Act), and becoming the runner up
Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election (Ratcliffe, 2018). From 2012-2015, his
favorability rating with Texans mostly lived in the 40% approval range (not a bad rating as
senators go); however, for most of 2016 and beyond, his disapproval rating has been higher than
his approval, with an average of a 45% throughout (Texas Tribune polls, 2019). (As of February,
he’s at 44% disapproval and 42% approval.) (The Texas Politics Project, 2020) Ted Cruz is no
doubt an experienced but polarizing politician, with the very difficult job of representing the
large and diverse state of Texas. In this paper, by analyzing Cruz’s relationship with Texans in
terms of demographics and policy preferences, the effects of his 2015 presidential bid on his
overall favorability, and the implications of his very close margin of victory over opponent Beto
O’Rourke in 2018, we will gain a better understanding of his effectiveness as a representative,
especially in the areas of descriptive, substantive, and symbolic representation. Ultimately, I
argue that Ted Cruz has, for most his senatorial career, been an effective representative most of
the time in terms of descriptive and substantive representation; however, his failings to represent

3. Texans in a strong way symbolically, paired with Texas’ rapidly changing demographics, point
to his growing struggle to effectively represent an increasing number of constituents.
When considering Ted Cruz’s efficacy as an elected representative, we first turn to his
constituents to analyze his success at achieving descriptive representation. Traditionally, people
are more likely to vote for a representative who looks or seems like them, the implication being
that because of their shared background, the representative will be more likely to represent their
interests and vote in their favor (Pitkan, 1972). For U.S. Senators, rather than state senators or
U.S. Representatives, this is made much more difficult by the fact that their constituency is
comprised of an entire state of sometimes many diverse groups of people. Though on paper, as a
Cuban man, a Canadian immigrant, and a Harvard graduate, Cruz may not seem like he can
relate to many Texans, actually, as a Hispanic (white-passing) man and a Republican, he finds
himself with many friends and supporters all across the state. However, before assessing the
congruence between what Ted Cruz and his constituents look like, we need to find out more
about what Texas looks like, since it is Cruz’s job to represent the will of the entire state. Texas
is the second-largest state in the U.S., providing a home to over 28 million people. The
demographic breakdown is about 41% White, 40% Hispanic, 13% Black, 5% Asian, and 3%
other (Census, 2019). The religious breakdown is about 77% Christian (including 23% Catholic),
18% unaffiliated, and 4% non-Christian religions (Pew Research Center, 2014). Finally, when
taking into consider party identification, we find a spread of about 41% Republican and 38%
Democrat (although it is known that Republicans are more likely to be voters) (Gallup Poll,
2017). As a Hispanic White man in Texas who is a Southern Baptist (the second-largest
denomination), Republican Ted Cruz actually aligns very well with Texans as a whole, and does
seem to strongly descriptively represent them.

4. Moving to a level of representation that matters more to voters than the degree to which their
representatives look like them, substantive representation encompasses “the actions taken on
behalf of…the represented” and takes into account what representatives do, from constituency
service to roll call votes to introducing legislation of their own (Pitkan, 1972; Dovi, 2018). In
order to consider how well Senator Cruz represents Texans on a substantive level, we must
assess his proclivity for achieving congruence, or a match between public preferences and what
government does. Substantive representation is not as easy to measure as descriptive
representation because whereas descriptive involves the facts and figures of demographic
information, substantive involves the ideological feelings and public opinion reactions to specific
policies, neither of which are always easy to measure. Although in our political system we can
utilize elections as a good accountability mechanism, we can never be sure what exactly it was
that made a voter vote for or against someone: their party identification (descriptive), how much
they agreed with their policy choices (substantive), whether they had a good or bad gut feeling
about a person (symbolic), or a myriad of reasons. According to Politico, Ted Cruz hasn’t always
voted along party lines, which has angered D.C. and Texan Republicans alike (e.g., voting
against relief for Hurricane Sandy but for relief for Hurricane Harvey) (Cheney, 2017). However,
his commitment to voting with the Republican party has improved over the past few years and he
now even votes with Trump’s preferences 92% of the time (important in representing Texas as
52% of Texans voted for Trump in 2016) (FiveThirtyEight, 2020; New York Times, 2016). He
also agrees with Senator John Cornyn 95% of the time, a good sign since the both of them are
dedicated to serving Texas interests (ProPublica, 2020). Ultimately, though Cruz’s approval
rating is usually high among his base, it is often low among other constituents, alluding to his
mixed levels of substantive representation, and the fact that you can’t please everyone (especially

5. in the large, diverse, and divisive state of Texas) (Texas Tribune polls, 2019). However, the
issues Texans care most about—immigration, border security, healthcare, and political
corruption—are things that Cruz consistently addresses online, in interviews, and on the Senate
floor, again attesting to his strength of substantive representation (The Texas Politics Project,
2020; Ramsey, 2018).
Finally, let’s consider Ted Cruz’s effectiveness at symbolic representation, or how much he
“stands” for those he represents, by considering two of his most recent spotlights: his 2016 run
for president and his 2018 narrow victory for senator (Pitkan, 1972). On March 23rd, 2015, just
two years after he became the Junior Senator for Texas, Ted Cruz announced that he was running
for President of the United States. Upon hearing the news, his Senior Senator John Cornyn said
in an interview, “clearly he didn’t come here to remain in the Senate. He came here to run for
president” (Ratcliffe, 2018). Cruz’ campaign revolved around the ideas of his strong
conservative record, his disdain of corrupt politicians, and him being an “outsider”
(Flegenheimer, 2016). At the beginning of his campaign, many experts thought that he didn’t
stand a chance, but in fact, he made it to the top four finishers and with 11 states won in the
primaries, he became the Republican runner-up for the presidential nomination.
When Cruz finally decided to drop out of the race after realizing that he didn’t have enough
delegates to become the nominee, he, like many other Republicans at the time, struggled with
whether or not to endorse Donald Trump for president (whom he criticized along the campaign
trail). In fact, at the Republican National Convention, instead of urging voters to unite around
Trump as is customary, he pushed people to “vote your conscience…up and down the ticket”
(Texas Monthly, 2018). Although unsuccessful, Cruz’s presidential candidacy boosted his
national presence and overall name recognition. However, one of the risks for current

6. officeholders like senators running for president is that they lose their current office in pursuit of
a higher one (Burden, 2002). In that vein, his campaign did not improve his reputation with
Texans, and in fact, both the hesitation to endorse Trump and the switching of opinions that led
him to eventually do so, reflected badly on the senator, with some people even claiming that he
only did it because he needed Trump’s help with his reelection campaign (Mazza, 2018).
According to a survey conducted for the Texas Tribune by the University of Texas, the
percentage of Texas voters who strongly approved of Cruz as a senator decreased from 27
percent in November 2015 to 19 percent in October 2018 (Texas Tribune, 2015). Though we
cannot know that this is simply a result from his presidential run, clearly the time he spent on the
presidential trial was time spent away from helping Texans—the senator missed 160 roll call
votes in the senate over the campaign period of April 2015 - June 2016 (GovTrack, 2020). Cruz’
run for president absolutely affected his popularity, his reputation, and his ability to substantively
and symbolically represent his constituency, all of which perhaps unintentionally set the stage for
what happened just a few years later.
The other major event that highlighted Ted Cruz’s lack of real ability to establish symbolic
representation for his constituents was his narrow victory against his 2018 challenger, Beto
O’Rourke. A young, Democratic, sophomore congressman from El Paso would not have seemed
a possible formidable challenger for a Senate seat against an incumbent Republican with wide
name recognition across Texas; however, in the 2018 midterm election, the seemingly
impossible happened and Congressman O’Rourke came within a few hundred thousand votes of
being the first Democrat to represent the state in a generation (Goldsberry, 2018). Republicans
struggled to believe that “any Republican could have a hard time in the state of Texas,” but the
first fundraising quarter that showed O’Rourke out-earning Cruz threefold was a wakeup call for

7. many Republicans, and got the Cruz campaign a large influx of donations from worried
conservatives around the nation (Texas Tribune, 2018). In the end, Cruz held onto his seat by a
vote margin of 51% to 48% (the closest Texas senate race in decades), with the highest midterm
turnout in Texas and the highest amount of money spent on a midterm election ever (Svitek and
Livingston, 2018). Although Cruz ended up the victor, the close results of this election assuredly
dampened his reputation and his perceived strength as a candidate—there is evidence that
constituents like incumbent senators who are involved in a hard-fought race “considerably less
than they do other senators” (Krasno, 1989). I believe that this election was as close as it was
largely because of Beto O’Rourke’s dynamism, as well as Ted Cruz’s lack of strong symbolic
representation for his constituents.
Beto O’Rourke was a unique candidate from the start, and a political underdog if Texas has ever
seen one (even more so than Cruz was in the race he won back in 2012). O’Rourke is seen as a
charismatic leader, an eloquent speaker, and an empathetic figure. His idea to travel to all 254
counties impressed many Texans and a viral response of his regarding kneeling protestors
garnered the campaign a lot of earned media, even nationally. However, to attribute the closeness
of the election to O’Rourke’s personality and reputation alone is to ignore the other half of the
ballot. Going back to the concept of symbolic representation, Ted Cruz used to be seen as a
smart and scrappy senator who was willing to fight (for hours, even) for the things he and his
constituents wanted. However, he was a very different senator five years into his term, and
amidst an unsuccessful presidential run (that wrought a strained relationship with the current
president, whom many Texans happily voted for), complaints from other senators (even in his
own party), and “Ted Cruz 2.0” (a reinvention of character the senator claimed to make in the
years following the election), Cruz seemed to lose the symbolism behind his character and

8. candidacy that many Texans had loved and voted for just a few years earlier (Ratcliffe, 2018).
Though descriptively and substantively, Cruz has fairly accurately represented his constituents,
symbolically, it seems that in the past few years he has fallen short.
However, candidates themselves are only half of the story in the Cruz vs. O’Rourke race. It is not
surprising to me that people (especially Republicans) across the country were shocked to see a
Democrat get so close to victory in Texas—people think that it’s a red state through and through
considering the conservative stronghold that it has always been. However, we Texans know that
that story is slowly but surely evaporating: though there are indeed more conservatives in Texas
and assuredly more voters in Texas who lean conservative than those who lean liberal, changing
demographics, including an influx of Hispanic immigrants, an increase in the number of young
voters, and population growth around the bigger cities are leading to a liberal insurgence that
experts suggest could turn Texas into a “blue” state less than a decade from now (Goldsberry,
2018). This begs the question: is Ted Cruz not an effective representative, or is he effective, just
for a diminishing number of the population?
In conclusion, as a Hispanic White man, a Southern Baptist, and a conservative Republican, Ted
Cruz demographically and ideologically fits the bill for what you’d expect of a senator in Texas
who provides strong descriptive representation. Alongside the descriptive often comes the
substantive—if you look and think like a group of people, you are more likely to vote for their
interests, too (Mansbridge, 1999). Cruz’s voting record proves this to be true most of the time,
earning him a usually favorable public opinion from his base. When it comes to symbolic
representation, however, a fluctuating and polarizing reputation spurred from a divisive inability
to work with others in congress, a tumultuous relationship with the president, and a personality
that has often been described as “abrasive,” it is not hard to see how a majority of Texans do not

9. identify with the symbolism that Ted Cruz brings to the table in representing them (Bauer, 2015).
A final important factor to consider in evaluating Ted Cruz’s effectiveness as a representative is
the changing demographics within Texas’ borders. As I mentioned earlier, I do not feel
represented well by Ted Cruz. As a non-religious, liberal woman, I do not feel strong descriptive
representation with my senator, and as a Democrat, I disagree with much of his legislation and
voting record, so I also feel weak substantive representation—with those two factors combined,
of course it’d be hard for me to find him a strong proponent of symbolic representation, too.
However, it may not be me that he wants to represent, as his voting base and most of his
constituents (at least for the past few years) have been the people that look like him and vote
with him. As this Texas constituency continues to change, it will be increasingly difficult for
Cruz to hold onto a Senate seat. Personally, I would not be surprised if a challenger candidate
with similar descriptive characteristics and stronger symbolism stood a good chance in defeating
him, and in turn becoming an even more effective representative for the majority of Texas.

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