--- title: How Some Convention Speakers Avoided Endorsing Donald Trump description: Ted Cruz caused a commotion when he failed to endorse Donald Trump in his speech to the Republican national convention. canonical: https://time.com/4418386/how-some-convention-speakers-avoided-endorsing-donald-trump/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-22T00:20:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:53.100Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Some Convention Speakers Avoided Endorsing Trump og:description: A few speakers talked around the issue. og:url: https://time.com/4418386/how-some-convention-speakers-avoided-endorsing-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a67b6f5c981e4e/69889d04fb4eac63d588e616/ted-cruz-republican-convention-vote-trump-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3192 og:image:height: 1796 og:image:alt: Republican National Convention: Day Three og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Some Convention Speakers Avoided Endorsing Trump twitter:description: A few speakers talked around the issue. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt80a67b6f5c981e4e/69889d04fb4eac63d588e616/ted-cruz-republican-convention-vote-trump-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Some Convention Speakers Avoided Endorsing Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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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. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jul 22, 2016 12:20 AM UTC  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) waves to the crowd as he walks on stage to deliver a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) waves to the crowd as he walks on stage to deliver a speech on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Jul 22, 2016 12:20 AM UTC Ted Cruz caused a commotion when he [failed to endorse Donald Trump](http://time.com/4417656/republican-convention-ted-cruz-speech-behind-scenes/) in his speech to the Republican national convention. But the Texas Senator was not alone. A number of speakers at this week’s convention avoided explicitly coming out and saying that they endorsed Trump or that he would make a good president. 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