By Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Adam Cancryn, CNN
(CNN) — As GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Ted Cruz prepared to board the same flight from Houston to Washington in recent months, the two famously brash Republicans had a tense exchange that now looms large over Crenshaw’s battle for political survival.
Crenshaw accused Cruz of working against him in his House primary. According to three people with direct knowledge of their interaction, Cruz responded: “If I’m working against you, you’re gonna know it.”
This week, Cruz made it known.
The junior Texas senator endorsed Steve Toth, a Texas state representative and a former megachurch pastor who is facing Crenshaw in Tuesday’s Republican primary. And he taped an ad that a pro-Toth super PAC is now airing in the Houston area.
“You deserve an unwavering fighter, a Republican who walks the walk,” Cruz says in the ad, which doesn’t mention Crenshaw.
Crenshaw, the Navy SEAL who has rocketed to national fame for his confrontational style, has spent years fighting with “Make America Great Again” allies who see him as insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump. Now, days before his primary, Crenshaw’s previously unreported feud with Cruz reflects how the congressman is facing major enemies in his already tough reelection bid.
Trump has not endorsed a candidate in the race, making Crenshaw the only House Republican from Texas not to get the president’s backing.
“He told me he would — it’s up to him, he doesn’t owe me anything,” Crenshaw told CNN.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, too, endorsed 27 House Republicans for Congress this cycle without backing Crenshaw. And now Cruz is backing Toth.
The nasty primary between Crenshaw and Toth has mostly been out of the public eye. But it’s been increasingly ringing alarm bells in Washington as GOP leaders now believe Crenshaw could lose or at least be forced into a May 26 runoff.
Crenshaw has succeeded in close primary fights before. But those were against poorly funded opponents who still came close to unseating him. (His opponent in 2024 raised less than $30,000 but won 40% of the vote.)
In an interview, Crenshaw predicted he would win reelection in the Houston suburbs seat, telling CNN: “I see myself winning.”
Inside Crenshaw’s feud with Cruz
Crenshaw’s allies note that Cruz had initially endorsed his opponent in 2018. But over the years, tensions rose between the two Republicans – partly, according to multiple Texas GOP sources, as some Cruz allies feared that Crenshaw was preparing a primary bid against the senator in 2024.
Crenshaw denied such ambitions in a fiery call with Cruz in 2021, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation. Cruz began the call by thanking Crenshaw for defending him publicly shortly after the January 6 violence at the Capitol, when Cruz was facing national backlash for fundraising off the riot, those people told CNN.
Ahead of Cruz’s 2024 reelection run, the senator’s team privately and repeatedly asked Crenshaw for an endorsement for his reelection bid, according to two people familiar with the exchange.
But the two Texans were unable to connect by phone at the time, those people said, and an endorsement never happened.
A spokesperson for Cruz’s campaign denied that the senator ever asked for Crenshaw’s endorsement but declined to offer further detail.
Cruz stayed out of Crenshaw’s primary until last week, after Crenshaw Read more