Unlike most
candidates wives Heidi Cruz has been involved in her husband’s campaigns as
fundraiser and surrogate speaker for him at numerous events. Since his days as campaigning for a senate seat.
I contend that
unlike other candidates wives she is fair political game, based on her
background and involvement in politics.
And has worked in
the Bush White House as the economic director for the Western Hemisphere at
the National Security
Council, as the director of the Latin America Office at the U.S.
Treasury Department, as Special Assistant to U.S. Trade
Representative Robert B. Zoellick,
Cruz eventually became the director for the Western Hemisphere on the National
Security Council under National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice in 2003.[18][5][3][17][20]and as economic policy advisor to
the 2000 George
W. Bush presidential campaign. Cruz has worked for three investment
banks, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs.[24][6]
In 2005, she went
to work for Goldman Sachs as a private wealth manager.[25] After serving as a Goldman
Sachs for seven years, Cruz was promoted in 2013 to regional head of the
Southwest United States for the Investment Management Division in Houston.[3][17][26][27]
Cruz took a leave
of absence without pay to participate in her husband's 2016 presidential
campaign. During the campaign, she has made multiple solo public appearances,
speaking on her husband's behalf.[29] Former George W. Bush
administration official Sara Taylor Fagen said
she was successful in softening her husband's image, which she further argued
was essential for "a candidate whose main obstacle to the Republican
nomination may be tone and personality", though director of the SuperPAC Our Principles PAC Katie
Packer argued her help could only go so far and voters would not support a
candidate based on their spouse.[30]
Kelly Riddell
of The Washington Times noted
Cruz was different from most political spouses due to her large role in her
husband's campaign, dubbing her an "integral part" of it.[31]
Beginning in August
2015, Cruz regularly attended presidential debates in which her husband
participated.[36] When asked what her role would
be as First Lady, she expressed an intent to raise "the standard of living
for those at the bottom of the economic ladder in this country",
explaining that her interests are on "the economic side".[37] During a two-day trip to Alabama in November 2015, she delivered
signatures and payment required for her husband to appear on that state's
ballot at the Alabama Republican
Party headquarters in Hoover.[38]
On December 3, Cruz
returned to Texas and filed paperwork for her husband's name to appear on the
state ballot. She acknowledged she had previously filed for his name on ballots
in previous states, but also said the Cruz campaign had "a campaign
strategy that's built to last, and we have built a grass-roots army that this
country hasn't seen since Ronald Reagan."[43][44] It was noted at this time by
Patrick Svitek of The Texas Tribune that she had become
more visible in the past few months after spending the initial months of the
campaign playing a behind-the-scenes role,[45] Cruz shortly afterward making
televised, solo appearances on Fox Business Network[46] and KTRK-TV.[47] In January 2016, after her
husband's eligibility to run for the presidency was questioned by several other
Republicans,[48] Cruz defended his legality,
calling the questioning an indication of her husband winning and his contenders
and detractors feeling a need to try to defame him as a result.
Early in her
husband's campaign, Cruz's initial role was that of fundraiser, making calls to
potential donors, and, in her words, seeking to "max out" investments
to the Cruz campaign. Cruz' call list included donor names provided to her by a
super PAC.[32][33][34] Campaign chairman Chad Sweet
compared Cruz's ability to make campaign calls to her time at Goldman Sachs, stating,
"There are very few spouses who can get on the phone on a cold call to a
prospective donor and make a more compelling case in a personal and effective
way than Heidi Cruz."[35]
She sat on a Council on Foreign
Relations task force for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)? Yes
right up until 2011 when Ted announced he was running for the Senate!
WHY do you people think our Government won’t secure our
border? Do you think it is Incompetence? Ignorance? Is it to destroy the
nation? Well a lot can be said about all of those at this point but lets just
say the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) CFR and that sweet little
task force has other plans! Open up the borders and go deeper south into Mexico
and beyond!! Awake yet???? Yes they are actively working to create a new nation
of North America, called the North American Union, (NAU) just like the EU, with
a controlling politburo, where members are NOT elected by the people.
Heidi Cruz speaking at a Ted Cruz for
President fundraiser in The Woodlands, Texas on February 27, 2016.
Leading up to the state caucus, Cruz stumped for her husband in Iowa,
making a joint appearance with her husband in Keokuk on October 10,[51] having made multiple
appearances by December[52] and appearing at the home of
Representative James Lyons on
January 8.[53][54] Cruz's joint appearances with
her husband continued into January when she joined him for the last day of his
bus tour around Iowa, telling voters that she hoped they would support him if
they had "fallen in love" with him as she had.[55] Ted Cruz won the state in the
February 1 primary, Heidi Cruz later saying the state was won through "one
strong voice of the people coming together".[56] For New Hampshire, another early primary state, it was reported in January that
she would make stops there to rally support for her husband.[57] In February, Cruz was reported
to be headlining a luncheon for Republican women in Reno, Nevada days before the state's
primary[58] and appearing on the campus of
Lander University prior
to the South Carolina primary.[59] She also joined her husband in
dining with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ahead of the state's primary
in an attempt to get her endorsement for the campaign. Haley would ultimately
support Marco Rubio.[60]She appeared in Spartanburg to rally support for Ted
Cruz, urging potential voters to help him win the state, which she thought
would have been a "game changer" for the rest of the primary.[61]
Cruz's plans to journey to southern
states ahead of Super Tuesday were
reported later that month,[62] which included a campaigning
event in Beaumont, Texas on
February 26[63] that expanded to a trip to Rosenberg and an appearance in Waco on February 28.[64] At the time of her campaigning
in Texas, Ted Cruz was expected to win the state, the move being seen as the
Cruz campaign not wanting to take any chances.[65] According to Cruz, both she
and her husband were confident about his prospects of winning.[66] She was credited with playing
a large role in his campaigning within his home state, Patrick Svitek of The Texas Tribune writing, "Now
her star power is being put to the test in Texas."[67] Cruz's appearance was also on
the last day before Texans could cast early votes for Super Tuesday.[68][69] Cruz at the time of her
appearance in Texas said, "There’s no election that’s ever been more
important" and she was "happy to be home".]
Cruz was among several spouses who
campaigned in North Carolina ahead
of the state's primary, Cruz mentioning during an appearance on March 4 in the
state the need to rebuild the military and services for veterans.[72] Cruz was reported to be
headlining an annual meeting over the weekend in North Carolina along with Tim
Phillips, President of Americans for Prosperity.[73] Cruz scheduled an appearance
in Belleville, Illinois on
March 8, meeting with other Republican women, though secretary of the St. Clair County Republicans
Mary Thurman said the group would not make an endorsement ahead of the Illinois
primary a little over a week later.[74][75] Her comments, insisting the
Cruz campaign did not try to "appeal to our fears, to our worst
selves", were seen as referring to Donald Trump.[76][77] The following day, she
appeared in Chicago, where she touted her husband as being
the "only candidate" to win against Trump eight times, Ted Cruz
having won his eighth primary victory in Idaho the
previous night.[78]Campaigning in Columbia, Missouri on
March 11, Cruz said, in reference to Republicans in Congress not acting on
their campaign promises,
"There’s an anger among the American people for electing people over and
over who have great talking points but don’t do what they say they are going to
do".[79] She also dispelled comparisons
made between the political experience of her husband and President Barack Obama, charging the president with
being an "unapologetic socialist trying to run a country that is majority
conservative" while denouncing that he was an "unmitigated disaster"
because of his political background.[80]
Ted Cruz was supposed to speak
in Fayetteville,
North Carolina but canceled it,[81] the Cruz campaign website
revealing that Heidi would campaign there in his place on March 14.[82] Cruz spoke at Fayetteville
Technical Community College in promotion of her husband, the
latter securing an endorsement from Phillip E. Berger that day as well.[83] Though having planned a visit
to New Jerseyin late March, Cruz's visit was
canceled, a campaign spokesperson saying she instead intended to campaign
jointly with her husband in Wisconsin.[84]
Subsequent to
getting married in 2001, Cruz moved from Washington D.C. to Texas in 2004, and
experienced a period of depression as a result of that personal and
professional transition to Texas.[94][95][96][22]
Heidi Suzanne Cruz (née Nelson;
August 7, 1972) Heidi Nelson was raised as a Seventh-day
Adventist.[3][4][5][6] During a part of Nelson's
childhood, she lived with her family in Kenya and Nigeria in Africa, where they served as missionaries, while both parents participated
in dental health work.[5][7][8][9][10][11][3][12][13] She has always maintained a
vegetarian diet as part of the Seventh-day Adventist childhood.[5][13]
She is a supporter
of Houston-based Living Water
International, a faith-based non-profit
organization that helps communities in developing countries
create sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
programs in response to the global water crisis.[9][90][91]
