The Heritage Foundation Senator

As he campaigns to return to the White House, Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project. Project 2025 is a set of policy recommendations pertaining to government agencies that runs nearly 1,000 pages and is essentially a blueprint for running the government under a new Trump presidency. The conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation is the principal organization behind Project 2025.

And while the ties between Trump and Heritage have been documented, less examined is the close relationship between Texas Senator Ted Cruz and the conservative think tank. The connections between Cruz and Heritage run deep: he has spoken at numerous events for the organization; he regularly posts their content or images on his social media pages; and many of his close allies and advisors come from the Heritage world.

Cruz’s lifetime score on the Heritage Action scorecard is 92 percent. According to Heritage, the average Senate Republican stands at 62 percent. As a Senator, Cruz has remained active with the Heritage circle. He spoke at the opening of their new building in Washington D.C. in 2018.

He also spoke at Heritage on the eve of the impeachment trial for former President Trump in 2019. More recently he attended an event at Heritage about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in 2022. 

For over ten years Cruz has enjoyed a relationship with the Heritage Foundation. Their former President Jim DeMint wrote a glowing portrait of him in 2013. “Cruz’s honest and common-sense leadership should be commended, not criticized he wrote.” The Houston Chronicle also wrote about a Heritage-sponsored event Cruz went to in 2013 as he was looking to defund the Affordable Care Act.

And if many of Cruz’s policy positions directly align with the Heritage Foundation, that same thread can also be found throughout Project 2025. Perhaps no chapter exemplifies that better than the one about the Department of Energy and Related Commissions, written by Bernard McNamee. That’s not surprising since McNamee was Cruz’s former energy advisor and senior domestic policy advisor. 

After Trump named McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2018, Cruz sent out a press release praising the selection. “Having worked with Bernie, I know firsthand he is both a well-qualified and hardworking public servant,” said Cruz. “He cares deeply about implementing policy that will benefit the American people, and understands the importance of competition in lowering prices and benefiting consumers.”

In Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership, McNamee highlights several priorities for a Department of Energy under President Trump. Those include repealing “massive spending bills” like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Cruz used almost the same language when he introduced legislation to repeal a natural gas tax in the Inflation Reduction Act. “Joe Biden and Biden officials have proven time and time again that they care more about their radical climate agenda than the needs of the American people,” he wrote in May. 

In Project 2025, McNamee also disparages energy efficiency standards from the Department of Energy. That sounds a lot like Cruz’s current fearmongering about an end to gas stoves and other appliances he believes are being targeted.

As he continues to run for re-election in a surprisingly tight race against Allred, Cruz has tried to appeal to moderates and independents throughout Texas. But at his care he remains deeply enmeshed with Heritage and their Project 2025.