At a time when Congress is deeply divided, there is one thing Democrats and Republicans agree on: Ted Cruz just might be the most despised person in the United States Senate.

Former Sen. Al Franken captured the sentiment perfectly when he wrote: "I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz." But it was Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham who summed it up most memorably: "If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you."

His reputation is well-earned.

Cruz has a particular knack for landing on the most hateful and destructive side of every issue. 

Instead of supporting a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, he advocated for "hunting and deporting" undocumented immigrants. He has opposed sensible gun legislation after mass shootings in his own state, chosen partisan point-scoring over disaster relief funding, and made a career out of performative outrage while delivering little for the people of Texas. 

Instead of protecting democracy, he helped lead the fight to overturn the 2020 election, insisting on debunked allegations of voter fraud.

And now, during the debate over the SAVE America Act, he is using the Senate floor to spread baseless conspiracy theories — claiming that Democrats are deliberately allowing undocumented immigrants into the country so they can vote in U.S. elections.

"Why would the Democrats choose to allow more than 12 million illegal aliens to invade this country?" Cruz said. "I'm going to suggest the obvious reason: because the Democrats look at those illegal aliens and they want them to cast votes for Democrats in federal elections."

Sen. Rick Scott echoed the lie: "Democrats don't think they can win unless we allow people who are not legally allowed to vote to cast a ballot."

Let me be clear: claims of widespread noncitizen voting are false. Incidents of noncitizens actually voting are so rare that when Utah conducted a full investigation, it found none. Zero. 

These are not good-faith policy concerns — they are deliberate lies designed to sow distrust in our elections and provide cover for measures that make it harder for U.S. citizens to participate.

From the beginning, Republicans have used misinformation and scare tactics to sell the SAVE America Act.

They pushed for voter registration restrictions that would have cost millions of women who changed their last names their right to vote. They added requirements forcing states to share voters' most sensitive personal data with the Department of Homeland Security. 

Most recently, Trump dropped all pretenses and called for a virtual ban on voting by mail — one of the most widely used and thoroughly documented secure methods of casting a ballot.

This is not about election integrity. It is about engineering an electorate that favors Republicans, because they know their ideas cannot win a fair fight. Rather than broaden their appeal, they have chosen to narrow the electorate. Rather than earn votes, they would prefer to disqualify them.

The contempt for Cruz is bipartisan and justified. Former Republican Speaker John Boehner called him "Lucifer in the flesh" — a characterization that, frankly, gives Lucifer too little credit. At least Lucifer had once been an angel.

The voters of Texas deserve far better than Ted Cruz. They deserve a senator who shows up — not one who flees to Cancún when his constituents are freezing, not one who peddles conspiracy theories instead of solutions, and not one whose primary loyalty is to his own ambition rather than the people he was elected to serve. 

Sadly, Cruz is not up for reelection in 2026, which means Texans must wait before they can send him home for good. In the meantime, the rest of the country has work to do.

Many Republican senators are on the ballot in 2026. Some, like Sen. Susan Collins, may present themselves as moderate voices — more reasonable, more measured than Cruz. But they are members of the same conference, voting for the same leadership, and enabling the same assault on voting rights. 

Every senator who has supported the SAVE America Act, condoned Trump's election lies, and stayed silent while Cruz spread conspiracy theories on the Senate floor is complicit. 

They have chosen their side. Now, so must we. 

The answer to what Cruz and his allies are doing is not despair, but active engagement. We all need to stand tall, show up and stay informed. In November, we must support candidates who will fight for every American's right to vote, and when they take charge, we must insist they protect the right to vote.