--- description: The Texas Senator did not back the party's nominee at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday title: Read the Speech Cruz Gave When He Wouldn't Endorse Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt145f1a6a311663ff/69889d000a4a22f9a59ca8d0/ted-cruz-speech-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [2016 Election](/tag/2016-election/) ## 2016 Election Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Read the Speech Ted Cruz Gave When He Wouldn't Endorse Donald Trump  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 12:00 PM CUT  CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 20: Ted Cruz speaks on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of prostesters and members of the media. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/WireImage) CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 20: Ted Cruz speaks on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. An estimated 50,000 people are expected in Cleveland, including hundreds of prostesters and members of the media. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/WireImage)Tasos Katopodis—WireImage  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 12:00 PM CUT Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Wednesday night was missing one notable talking point: [an endorsement](http://time.com/4416260/republican-convention-ted-cruz-speech/ "undefined") for the party’s presidential nominee, [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4397249/donald-trump-ted-cruz-meeting-rnc/ "undefined"). In the speech that ran for more than 20 minutes, Cruz was able to take jabs at Hillary Clinton and position himself as a champion of conservative values. But as he delayed even saying Trump’s name, he was able to tell listeners, “vote your conscience.” The audience did not take warmly to his advice. Read a [full transcript](http://time.com/4416396/republican-convention-ted-cruz-donald-trump-endorsement-speech-transcript-video/ "undefined") of his convention speech below. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4416741/ted-cruz-trump-rnc-full-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4416741/ted-cruz-trump-rnc-full-transcript/"},"headline":"Read the Speech Ted Cruz Gave When He Wouldn't Endorse Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-07-21T12:00:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:25:53.251Z","description":"The Texas Senator did not back the party's nominee at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday","url":"https://time.com/4416741/ted-cruz-trump-rnc-full-transcript/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt145f1a6a311663ff/69889d000a4a22f9a59ca8d0/ted-cruz-speech-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt145f1a6a311663ff/69889d000a4a22f9a59ca8d0/ted-cruz-speech-convention.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ted cruz speech convention","caption":"ted cruz speech convention","creditText":"Tasos Katopodis—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4416741/ted-cruz-trump-rnc-full-transcript/","name":"Read the Speech Ted Cruz Gave When He Wouldn't Endorse Donald Trump"}}]}] ```