Ted Cruz on Donald Trump's Victory: 'Defied All the Pundits'
Republican Senator Ted Cruz has hailed President-elect Donald Trump's victory over Vice President Kamala Harris as a pollster-defying triumph, saying the election "transforms the world."
Despite the battle for the White House being treated as a razor-thin race by pollsters and pundits in its final days, the former president climbed over the 270 mark on Wednesday morning and is currently on track to win both the popular vote and all seven swing states by the time the last vote is counted.
"I believe god has answered our prayers for our nation and I am so grateful," Cruz said on the most recent episode of his Verdict podcast. "Donald Trump has been re-elected president in what has to be the most remarkable comeback in political history."
"It was an election that defied all the pundits, that defied all the analysts, and that transforms America and transforms the world," Cruz said.
Several polls, including from FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times/Siena College, indicated that Harris had a strong chance of getting the popular vote, capturing at least a few key battleground states, and possibly winning the election overall.
In its final election simulation, Harris was projected to win 50 out of 100 times by FiveThirtyEight, while Trump had a 49 out of 100 chance.
Following the former president's win, having so far clinched 295 electoral college votes as of press time, Republicans and Trump surrogates have lambasted pundits and pollsters for their ultimately incorrect narratives of the race being a coin flip.
On Wednesday, former Fox News host Megyn Kelly said that the results signaled " the total and utter collapse of polling ," on her Spotify podcast, asking: "Who will pay attention to these people again?"
Speaking on the reasons behind Harris's sizeable defeat, Cruz said: "It was certainly the economy, but also more broadly it was the border, it was the inflation, it was safety and crime, and it was chaos."
"There's a reason Kamala never talked about anything they'd done," he said. "She ran as the change candidate 'cause she sure as heck couldn't run on her record. And you know what, the American people said 'to hell with that.'"
Newsweek has contacted the Harris campaign for a response to Cruz's statement.
He described the wins for Trump, as well as the Republican Party 's successes in the House and Senate races as "an incredible day."
Cruz won his own reelection bid on Tuesday, beating Democrat Collin Allred 53 percent to 45 to secure a third term in the U.S. Senate, as the GOP regained control of the upper chamber.
Despite the Longhorn State being a historical stronghold for Republicans, Democrats were optimistic about flipping Texas following Cruz's narrow win over Beto O'Rourke in 2018, pouring around $80 million into Allred's campaign, according to OpenSecrets.
Cruz remarked on this during his Tuesday evening victory speech, directing a jibe at current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer .
"I want to say, thank you, Chuck. And I hope we win a few more Senate seats tonight because you wasted so much money in Texas."
