--- title: How Ted Cruz Thinks He's Like Bernie Sanders description: Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are two senators that disagree on almost everything. But one of them seems to think they've got something in common. canonical: https://time.com/4207291/how-ted-cruz-is-like-bernie-sanders/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-04T01:21:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:37.310Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Ted Cruz Thinks He's Like Bernie Sanders og:description: Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are two senators that disagree on almost everything. But one of them seems to think they've got something in common. og:url: https://time.com/4207291/how-ted-cruz-is-like-bernie-sanders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6a4b45bceca576/69887c13196cf4c52203a2d3/ted-cruz3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign event in Windham, N.H. on Feb. 2, 2016. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Ted Cruz Thinks He's Like Bernie Sanders twitter:description: Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders are two senators that disagree on almost everything. But one of them seems to think they've got something in common. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1d6a4b45bceca576/69887c13196cf4c52203a2d3/ted-cruz3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Ted Cruz Thinks He's Like Bernie Sanders > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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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. by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Feb 4, 2016 1:21 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign event in Windham, N.H. on Feb. 2, 2016. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz speaks at a campaign event in Windham, N.H. on Feb. 2, 2016. Eric Thayer—Reuters by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Feb 4, 2016 1:21 AM UTC (Hooksett, NH) — [Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders](http://time.com/4192832/bernie-sanders-republican-donald-trump-iowa/) are two senators that disagree on almost everything. But one of them seems to think they’ve got something in common. At a campaign event in Hooksett, New Hampshire, the arch-conservative Cruz took a question about small businesses in an unexpected direction: by comparing himself to the uber-liberal Sanders. “Reporters comment with some regularity, that they say, ‘God, a lot of the time Cruz sounds like [Bernie Sanders](http://time.com/4170591/bernie-sanders-immigration-conservatives/).’ And you know what? In many ways I agree with Bernie in diagnosing the problem,” Cruz said. “The biggest divide we’ve got politically, it’s not between Democrats and Republicans,” Cruz continued to applause. “It’s between career politicians in Washington—in both parties—and the American people.” Cruz went on to say that lobbyists and special interests have an outsize influence on government, stymieing competition and businesses. “And what we see in Washington is the Washington cartel, these career politicians getting in bed with the lobbyists and special interests, growing big business, growing the moneyed and powerful influences the influence and power of the administration,” Cruz said. **Read more:** [_Bernie Sanders Becomes Object of Republican Fascination of Iowa_](http://time.com/4192832/bernie-sanders-republican-donald-trump-iowa/) Sanders often rails against the political establishment, saying recently in Iowa that his campaign “get\[s\] the establishment a little bit nervous… We get Wall Street a little bit nervous. We get the political establishment a little bit nervous.” But the two have fundamentally different philosophies and there is hardly a policy opinion they would share. Sanders is in favor of greatly expanded government programs, including a single-payer healthcare system that Cruz has mocked in the past, as well as free tuition at public universities and large tax increases to fund them. Cruz has called for a vast downsizing in government and lower taxes. **Read more:** [_Why Conservatives Praise Bernie Sanders on Immigration_](http://time.com/4170591/bernie-sanders-immigration-conservatives/) Cruz recognized those differences too. “Now where Bernie and I differ is the solution,” Cruz said. “Bernie thinks the solution to government being fundamentally corrupt is to have a whole lot more government. I think that’s nuts. 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