To one degree or another, every candidate running for president has enlisted their family in their effort. But none has gone so far as Ted Cruz, whose surging campaign has placed his wife, Heidi, and father, Rafael, at the tip of the spear, leading fundraising and organizing efforts as if they were paid staffers.

Neither has a formal title, but as the Texas senator continues to roll out endorsements and assemble a growing network of supporters in the early states and across the South in anticipation of the March 1 primaries, the influence of his wife, on leave from her position as an executive at Goldman Sachs, and his father, a pastor who is a fixture on the evangelical speaking circuit, is becoming stamped across his campaign.


Rafael Cruz has been central to his son’s evangelical outreach efforts for months. For many Christian conservatives, the first introduction to the Cruz family was through Rafael, who served as a key bridge between religious leaders and the campaign. Last summer, he did a multi-city swing through Iowa churches where he was accompanied by the Cruz campaign’s Iowa state director and preached about the importance of getting Christians to vote. His son is rarely the subject of the elder Cruz’s sermons — but it’s implied.

For most of the campaign, Heidi Cruz focused almost solely on fundraising. But after playing a largely behind-the-scenes role, she has started ratcheting up her public presence in recent weeks. She joined Twitter this month and has already done solo swings through states including Alabama and Georgia, maintaining a pace that sometimes rivals her husband’s, with as many as three stops a day. She has a heavy travel schedule planned through the end of the year.

Just as important, Heidi Cruz has joined Rafael Cruz in quietly courting lawmakers, according to several legislators who are backing Cruz, sometimes forming a one-two Cruz family punch before the senator gets involved.

Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent Iowa social conservative whose Family Leader organization hosted a presidential forum earlier this month, has met at various times with Rafael, Heidi and Ted Cruz as he weighs an endorsement.

“Cruz definitely has made this a family affair,” he said, ticking through all the spouses of candidates he hasn’t met.

Like those of other candidates’ wives, Heidi Cruz’s public mission is, in part, to soften the edges of her husband, a Republican who is reviled by many of his Senate colleagues. But her actual portfolio is much broader, encompassing fundraising, strategy and tactics.

The Cruzes met while working on George W. Bush’s campaign — and Heidi Cruz held several roles in the Bush administration — so she is as comfortable talking strategy with donors and GOP officials as she is in the traditional role of the political spouse: opening up about family life and humanizing her husband.

“She’s very sharp in her own right, very impressive,” said South Carolina state Rep. Wendy Nanney, who received a call from Heidi Cruz during which the two discussed the Texas senator’s record as well as Nanney’s own work opposing abortion rights. “It was a great conversation with her; I was very comfortable, and that led into a meeting with him [and my] being very comfortable and able to talk very openly.”

Nanney is now one of Cruz’s South Carolina co-chairs.

“Ted and Heidi are the closest Republican equivalent of the political powerhouse couple Bill and Hillary Clinton,” said Cruz campaign chairman Chad Sweet. “Their marriage was forged in the heat of a presidential campaign, and their partnership in American politics has not stopped since. Each is a formidable politico in their own right.”

Now, through social media and radio hits, women’s lunches and phone calls to key activists, Heidi Cruz is intensifying her public efforts to shore up support for her husband, a mandate that includes showcasing a gentler side to a candidate who is rising in the polls but is sometimes stiff while working a crowd and has drawn criticism from top Republicans ranging from former House Speaker John Boehner to former President George W. Bush.

“This election is going to come down to trust,” she said in a recent interview with Politico. “If you are looking to trust someone, you need to know them, and knowing them is multidimensional. … The news media loves to portray Ted as such a serious person, the media tells you he doesn’t connect, and when I tell you these things about how well he connects not only with voters but with family, I think it goes against that narrative.”

She talks about her husband’s fondness for Broadway musicals and his inside jokes with their two young daughters, and in front of women’s groups has stressed that he has compassion for single mothers, in part because that was his half-sister’s experience.

“I want to show people that Ted can unite this party, that Ted is speaking to common-sense principles that bring us all together,” Heidi Cruz said. “I also want to show this country that he is incredibly thoughtful, both professionally and personally. This is a man who’s never missed a date night, who’s never missed a birthday, who loves his girls so much like every father does in this country.

“Not all the public know that yet, and the media loves to paint him as a fiery, outspoken advocate for the extreme right that can never win,” continued Cruz, vowing to show that’s not the full picture.

Steve Deace, an influential conservative Iowa radio host who is backing Cruz, had several meetings with the senator, his wife and Rafael Cruz. Deace’s wife also had lunch with Heidi Cruz.

“They each have God-given roles and just complement each other very well,” said Deace, calling them a “model contemporary Christian couple.”

“Ted’s got the killer instinct when it comes to pursuing principles,” he said. “Heidi’s got the killer instinct when it comes to gathering resources to run a successful campaign.”



Yet Deace’s first connection to the Cruz family was through Rafael Cruz, whom he met in Iowa evangelical circles. That’s not an uncommon experience: Eric Woolson, who worked on Christian conservative outreach for Scott Walker in Iowa before the Wisconsin governor dropped out, told POLITICO recently said that he was constantly running up against pastors who were glowing about “how impressed they were with Sen. Cruz’s dad, how much work he’d done.”

Rafael Cruz, explained Vander Plaats, is “very essential” to the campaign’s Iowa operation. Ted Cruz has made recruiting pastors in Iowa a critical piece of his strategy, publicly announcing plans to tap at least one supporting religious leader in each of Iowa’s 99 counties — and it makes a big difference that his father already had relationships with many of them.

“He has a great deal of credibility, in particular, with pastors,” Vander Plaats said. “And so he spends a lot of his time working on the pastors and the church leaders. People like Rafael a lot. That’s a definite benefit to his son.”

Rafael Cruz’s persuasion portfolio extends beyond pastors and religious leaders. Nevada Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman’s first point of contact with the Cruz family was Rafael. The two went to church together, where she introduced him to her pastor and was moved by his story of fleeing oppression in Cuba. After that, she met the senator in person, which “kind of sealed the deal,” Seaman said.

“[W]e all make as many calls as we can,” said Heidi Cruz. “It is really a group effort.”

Seaman’s Nevada colleague, Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, went to lunch with Rafael, during which, over Mexican food, the pastor “goofed off” and talked up his son.

“His dad can totally get anyone on Ted’s team,” said Fiore, who now backs the Texas senator. “His dad just has such a gift of communication with folks. I think his dad’s my favorite.”

Shane Goldmacher contributed to this report.