Former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) doesn’t plan on endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the first major candidate to enter the 2016 presidential race. Instead, the former Texas senator plans to endorse former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush if he decides to run for president in 2016.
“I think he has a way about him that is going to give people confidence and I think people are going to trust him,” Hutchison said Wednesday on MSNBC. “He’s not a braggadocios guy, he’s not a guy that does sweeping gestures. He is kind of the trusted, father type that you want to run our country. And I think you need someone that will bring people together, Democrats and Republicans. That’s what he did in Florida, that’s what his reputation is. He will have an agenda. He will focus on that agenda.”
Cruz won Hutchison’s Senate seat when she ran for governor in 2010, beating the establishment Republican-aligned David Dewhurst.
Hutchison’s comments come just a few days after Cruz announced his candidacy for president. Hutchison is an ally of the Bush family and had their support when she challenged former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) in the gubernatorial primary in 2010. Perry has also shown interest in running for president in 2016.
Even though Bush hasn’t formally announced his candidacy for president he’s been making all the moves a likely candidate would make: fundraising, traveling to early primary states, and strongly alluding that he plans to run for president.
