Ted Cruz rants about ‘left-wing transgender witches’ who hate Donald Trump

Ted Cruz has drawn backlash after telling Fox News that he believed left-wing transgender people despised Donald Trump while discussing why US midterm polling is close.

The Republican senator for Texas made the remark during a discussion about the upcoming midterm elections on Saturday (October 17), appearing alongside Alaska senator Dan Sullivan.

Asked by Fox News presenter Aishah Hasnie why polling looked tight across multiple races, Cruz said: “Look, it’s all of the above. This is a close election. This is a real fight, and we cannot take this for granted. There are eight to 10 Senate races that are tied, or within the margin of error; they could go either way.”

He later returned to the question of motivation and turnout, adding: “You asked why this is happening… this happens a lot in midterms, where the party out of power [are] usually ticked off. And right now, if you’re a left-wing transgender witch, you hate Donald Trump.”

What did Cruz say about turnout?

Cruz argued that “left-wing” voters were “energised”, and framed the contest as a question of whether other groups would show up to vote.

“And you’re gonna show up, you’re energised… the question is, does everybody else show up? Do conservatives show up? Do Libertarians show up? Just commonsense Americans who are not lunatics who don’t think Communism and Islamism are a good idea,” he said.

He also predicted success for Republicans if turnout broke their way: “If regular, ordinary Americans show up to vote, Dan Sullivan’s gonna be reelected here in Alaska, and we’re gonna win Senate seats and House seats all over the country.”

Cruz has been a Republican US senator for Texas since 2013 and a prominent figure in the conservative party. He ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and has faced repeated criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates for supporting policies and rhetoric seen as hostile to LGBTQ+ rights, including trans rights.

How did people react to the ‘transgender witches’ line?

The comments prompted pushback on social media, including users mocking Cruz’s focus on trans people as a political attack line.

One post said: “They can’t run on the economy, the deficit or no new wars. All they have left is transgender witches.”

One user wrote: “Literally less than 1% of the population is trans and they’re obsessed with them.”

In February 2026, analysis found Fox News’ volume of transgender-related coverage dwarfed other outlets, with “transgender” its most-used keyword across datasets.