Cruz: I Take Pride That ‘Washington Elites Despise Me,’ ‘Both Parties’ Don’t Listen

Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz (R-TX) expressed pride that “Washington elites despise me” because “it’s both parties that aren’t listening to the American people” on Monday’s “Hannity” on the Fox News Channel.

“You know, Sean, when the New York Times says that the Washington elites despise me, my only question is whether I have to disclose that to the FEC as an in-kind donation. I mean, frankly I can’t think of a better ground to run on. Washington is broken, and it’s both parties that aren’t listening to the American people” he stated.

Cruz said that Republican actions during the 2013 government shutdown were “not a question of letting me down. It’s a question of letting down the people who elected us. Republicans all over the country campaigned saying ‘if you elect us we’ll fight [to repeal Obamacare]'”

He added that “I think it [the effort to defund Obamacare] absolutely would have been successful. Now, would we necessarily have succeeded in, at the time defunding all of Obamacare? I don’t know. That was a difficult — it would have taken a perfect storm. But I think at a minimum we would have provided meaningful relief for millions of people being hurt by Obamacare.”

He added, “remember they all went on TV and they said ‘as a result of this, Harry Reid and the Democrats are going to keep the Senate.’ Well, it strikes me we had a little bit of a different result, and not only did we win [a] historic victory…but the number one issue we won the senate on was stopping Obamacare. It was the most frequent campaign commercial of every Republican candidate. And it’s interesting it doesn’t occur to any of those Republican elites or Washington elites that helping lead an effort that mobilizes and energizes millions of Americans to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare may have played a significant role in our winning the Senate.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett