Ted Cruz warns that ‘crazed assault from the left’ awaits GOP in 2020

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. The list of speakers at CPAC includes two European nativists who are addressing the gathering between panels and events on the dangers of immigration, Sharia law and lawless government agencies. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg less Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. The list of speakers at CPAC includes ... more Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg Photo: Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Ted Cruz warns that ‘crazed assault from the left’ awaits GOP in 2020 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Having survived the closest U.S. Senate race in Texas in 40 years, Ted Cruz warned a national conservative audience that his experience foreshadows what the rest of the nation will see in 2020 with Democrats well funded and turning out in record numbers.

Cruz told attendees of a major conservative political rally in Maryland that the “crazed assault from the left” will be “more unhinged than anything we’ve seen.”

“We are going to see the left turn out in massive numbers,” Cruz told attendees of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland.

He reminded the audience that Beto O’Rourke in 2018 raised $80 million for the race — the most ever raised by a Democrat for the Senate. In addition, Cruz said he had 18 paid campaign workers, while O’Rourke had more than 800 people on the ground.

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Cruz warned conservatives, particularly young conservatives, to get engaged early.

In 2018, Cruz won re-election to the U.S. Senate by less than 3 percentage points or about 219,000. It was the closest U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1978.

Asked about O’Rourke calling for tearing down border walls in El Paso, Cruz answered: “Democrats have gone bat crap crazy.”

He said it’s not just on border security, either.

“They are getting more and more extreme on every issue,” he said.

But Cruz had some criticism for Republicans too. When asked why Republicans weren’t more aggressive about building a wall when they held majorities in both the House and the Senate, Cruz acknowledged he would have done things differently.

He said he urged Republican leaders in the Senate and the White House to follow his recommendation and force a vote on the border wall through something called budget reconciliation, which requires just a simple majority in the Senate and can prevent a filibuster. He said that is how the tax cuts were passed and thinks the wall would have passed, too.

If that had happened, Cruz said he’s convinced Republicans would not have lost the majority in the U.S. House in 2018 because it would have energized voters on the right.