Ted Cruz Speech Fuels 2016 Presidential Run Speculation

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Texas Sen. Elect Ted Cruz Talks GOP Latino Problem

Republican Sen. Elect Ted Cruz says his party needs to do a better job communicating their values.

Texas Senator-elect  Ted Cruz spoke before the conservative American Principles Project in Washington D.C. Thursday night in a speech that is sure to fuel more 2016 presidential run speculation, according to Politico.

The Republican, and the first Latino to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, said the Republican loss in the presidential election was a result of “not winning the argument” and does not mandate a drastic change in party ideology.

We didn’t win the argument. We didn’t even make the argument.

— Ted Cruz, First Latino Senator in Texas on GOP

Cruz, who has vowed to fight the White House at every turn, especially about cutting federal spending, said, “Why did we lose? It wasn’t as the media would tell you: because the American people embraced big government, Barack Obama’s spending and debt and taxes. … That wasn’t what happened. I’m going to suggest to you a very simple reason why we lost the election: We didn’t win the argument.

“We didn’t even make the argument.”

Cruz, 41, also introduced a concept that he called “Opportunity Conservatism.”

“We need to embrace what I call ‘Opportunity Conservatism,’” he said. “We need to conceptualize, we need to articulate conservative domestic policy with a laser focus on opportunity, on easing the means of ascent up the economic ladder.”

But the Cuban-American acknowledged in Thursday night’s speech that  Mitt Romney’s harsh immigration tone and his 47 percent comments were the reason the GOP only garnered 27 percent of the Latino vote.

It was not the first time Cruz has suggested that the party’s messaging and communication, not ideological principles, are to blame.

"As Republicans we need to do a better job communicating our values with the Hispanic community," Cruz told Fox News' Neil Cavuto in November.

He said Latinos care about the economy and jobs like everyone else.

"The Hispanic community itself is a tremendously conservative community, those are the values the resonate," Cruz said. "I don't think we did a very effective job of making the case to the Hispanic community that the policies of the Obama administration are not working."

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