--- title: Ted Cruz Says GOP Rivals Are Masquerading as 'Campaign Conservatives' description: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz warned a conservative grassroots audience that many of his Republican rivals are faking conservative credentials canonical: https://time.com/3989784/ted-cruz-gop-rivals-campaign-conservatives/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-08T16:54:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:47.483Z article:section: Politics og:title: Cruz: GOP Rivals Are Masquerading as 'Campaign Conservatives' og:description: "Have you noticed that they run as us! That’s how they run," he said og:url: https://time.com/3989784/ted-cruz-gop-rivals-campaign-conservatives/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb8b1f689492dc06/69885e67e20a87f081a8ca6e/ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2876 og:image:height: 1618 og:image:alt: Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cruz: GOP Rivals Are Masquerading as 'Campaign Conservatives' twitter:description: "Have you noticed that they run as us! That’s how they run," he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb8b1f689492dc06/69885e67e20a87f081a8ca6e/ted-cruz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Says GOP Rivals Are Masquerading as 'Campaign Conservatives' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: What You Didn't Know About Some of the GOP Candidates [Watch (HLS stream): What You Didn't Know About Some of the GOP Candidates](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/5dVIc9uW.m3u8) (2:12)  _Published 2015-08-06. One of them has made appearances in 54 Hollywood films._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 8, 2015 4:54 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, takes the stage for the first Republican presidential debate on Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, takes the stage for the first Republican presidential debate on Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Aug 8, 2015 4:54 PM UTC Texas Sen. Ted Cruz warned a conservative grassroots audience Saturday that many of his Republican rivals are faking conservative credentials in their bids to become the GOP nominee. Speaking to the RedState Gathering in Atlanta, the firebrand senator cast himself as the only true candidate in a race with people playing the part of “campaign conservatives.” “I’m pretty sure not a single person in the debate stood up and said, ‘I am an establishment, moderate, squish. I stand for nothing,'” Cruz joked to laughs. “Have you noticed that they run as us! That’s how they run.” “By the way,” he continued, “they say if you’re actually us, then you’re unelectable.” Cruz’s message was greeted with rave applause by the audience of nearly 1,000, with multiple interruptions for raucous standing ovations and “Ted, Ted, Ted” chants. At one point he joined the crowd in applause of one of his own rejoinders. “We’ve got to distinguish between campaign conservatives, who on the campaign trail suddenly discover they are the most conservative soul who has ever lived,” Cruz said, and those like himself. Engaged in a war of words with his party’s establishment, Cruz assailed his party’s leaders in Congress, accusing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House John Boehner of “playing for the other side.” He went on to blast “the one party, the party of Washington, the McConnell/\[Senate Minority Leader Harry\] Reid leadership team.” Cruz also criticized former Republican nominee Mitt Romney and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for calling on him to tone down his rhetoric on the Iran nuclear agreement, saying, “Truth is not rhetoric.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3989784/ted-cruz-gop-rivals-campaign-conservatives/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3989784/ted-cruz-gop-rivals-campaign-conservatives/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Says GOP Rivals Are Masquerading as 'Campaign Conservatives'","datePublished":"2015-08-08T16:54:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:47.483Z","description":"\"Have you noticed that they run as us! 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