Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday suggested the Republican Party could embrace a directional shift after President Donald Trump leaves office, a transition that promises to leave a gaping hole in the GOP. 

Cruz is known as a critical ally of Trump’s in the Senate, but he has also represented a more traditional brand of conservatism than the president, at times questioning Trump’s more protectionist, isolationist, and populist tendencies. In an MS Now interview this week, the Texas Republican questioned the view that Vice President JD Vance will be Trump’s heir, positing instead that the party will have to undergo some soul-searching to find its way forward. Cruz also left the door open for a presidential run himself in 2028, saying, “There’ll be time to figure that out.”

“Going forward, we’re in the midst of a debate about who our party is and what we believe, and I think economically we’ve got to debate, ‘Are we a small-government, free-market conservative party? Are we a big-government, nanny-state party?” he said.

Cruz praised Trump for showing “courage” in Washington, describing him as a “fearless” man with “a backbone,” in comparison to other “lily-livered Republicans who were afraid of their own shadow.” At the same time, the senator said he wished the president showed more “message discipline and focus,” noting he speaks with Trump sometimes on a daily basis. 

“He doesn’t always listen to me, but he frequently listens to me,” Cruz said. 

Cruz warned that Trump’s exit from the White House, set to come in January 2029, would leave a vacuum of leadership in the Republican Party. Amid speculation that Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio could be the GOP’s 2028 presidential nominee, Cruz said Republicans need to talk about who will succeed the president and what type of ideology the party will embrace. 

“[Trump] is a unique historical figure. There’s never been anyone like him; I don’t think there will be anyone like him going forward,” Cruz said. “And we’re going to have over the next several years a conversation among Republicans about what comes next.”

The senator’s remarks come after Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party back in 2016 changed the GOP’s trajectory.

Trump’s populist agenda changed that, taking a more pragmatic approach that favored, at times, more government intervention in the economy and healthcare, including through federal ownership in corporations and government subsidies for families. The president also favors protectionist policies on trade through tariffs, setting him apart from prior Republican administrations and earning him some concern from Cruz. 

“Economically, I think we should be a conservative party,” Cruz said Monday. “And on foreign policy, we’ve got to debate, ‘Are we an isolationist party that withdraws from the world, or do we believe in American leadership?”