--- title: 2016 Election: Ted Cruz Challenges Donald Trump to One-on-One Debate description: Texas Senator Ted Cruz challenged Iowa rival Donald Trump to a one-on-one debate before Monday's caucuses canonical: https://time.com/4195249/cruz-trump-debate-megyn-kelly/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-27T01:59:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:28:07.197Z article:section: Politics og:title: Cruz Challenges Trump to Debate 'Mano a Mano' og:description: Trump backed out of the Fox News debate amid his beef with moderator Megyn Kelly. og:url: https://time.com/4195249/cruz-trump-debate-megyn-kelly/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512947904257cfe0/69887aa8e20a8791e6a8f398/ap_148973935133.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ted Cruz og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cruz Challenges Trump to Debate 'Mano a Mano' twitter:description: Trump backed out of the Fox News debate amid his beef with moderator Megyn Kelly. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512947904257cfe0/69887aa8e20a8791e6a8f398/ap_148973935133.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Cruz Challenges Trump to Debate 'Mano a Mano' by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 27, 2016 1:59 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz listens to a question from the crowd at a campaign event at Bridge View Center in Ottumwa, Iowa, on Jan. 26, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz listens to a question from the crowd at a campaign event at Bridge View Center in Ottumwa, Iowa, on Jan. 26, 2016Jae C. Hong—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 27, 2016 1:59 AM UTC Texas Senator Ted Cruz challenged Iowa rival Donald Trump to a one-on-one debate before Monday’s caucuses after the GOP front-runner [backed out of Thursday’s Fox News debate](http://time.com/4195194/donald-trump-skip-fox-debate/) amid his beef with moderator Megyn Kelly. In an interview with conservative radio host Mark Levin, Cruz, who is locked in a heated fight for first place in the Hawkeye State with Trump, mocked Trump’s decision to pull out of the debate. “If he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what exactly does he think he’d do with Vladimir Putin?” Cruz said, in a challenge designed to eat into Trump’s news cycle after announcing the news later Tuesday. “I would like to invite him on your show to participate in a one-on-one debate, between me and Donald, mano a mano.” “The fact that Donald is now afraid to appear on the debate stage, that he doesn’t want his record questioned, I think that reflects a lack of respect for the men and women of Iowa,” Cruz added. Cruz said he was willing to hold the 90-minute debate without any moderators, if Trump did not want to appear with any moderator. Such a debate would likely violate Republican National Committee rules prohibiting unsanctioned debates, but the appearance of two of the party’s top-polling contenders would weaken the RNC’s leverage. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4195249/cruz-trump-debate-megyn-kelly/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4195249/cruz-trump-debate-megyn-kelly/"},"headline":"Cruz Challenges Trump to Debate 'Mano a Mano'","datePublished":"2016-01-27T01:59:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:28:07.197Z","description":"\"If he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what exactly does he think he’d do with Vladimir Putin?\"","url":"https://time.com/4195249/cruz-trump-debate-megyn-kelly/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","ted cruz","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512947904257cfe0/69887aa8e20a8791e6a8f398/ap_148973935133.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt512947904257cfe0/69887aa8e20a8791e6a8f398/ap_148973935133.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ted Cruz","caption":"Ted Cruz","creditText":"Jae C. 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