How extensive are Ted Cruz's and Tom Cotton's backgrounds in law?
Cruz would be a great pick. He has the background.
Cruz holds degrees in public policy and law from
Princeton University and
Harvard Law School, respectively. From 1999 to 2003, he held various government positions, serving as Director of the Office of
Policy Planning at the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as an
Associate Deputy Attorney General at the
United States Department of Justice, and as a Domestic Policy Advisor to
George W. Bush during Bush's 2000
presidential campaign. Cruz served as
Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008, having been appointed by
Texas Attorney General and later
Governor Greg Abbott. He was the longest-serving solicitor general in Texas history and the first
Hispanic American to serve in that capacity. From 2004 to 2009, Cruz was an
adjunct professor at the
University of Texas School of Law in
Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.
In
2012, Cruz ran for and won the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Republican
Kay Bailey Hutchison. He is the first Hispanic American to serve as a U.S. Senator from Texas. In
2016, Cruz ran for President of the United States, winning Republican contests in 12 states before withdrawing from the race. He was reelected to the Senate in
2018, defeating
Democratic challenger
Beto O'Rourke by a slim margin of 50.9% to 48.3% in the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history. Along with
Bob Menendez and
Marco Rubio, As of 2020 Cruz is one of three current U.S. Senators of
Cuban descent.