McCaul: 'Organic Effort to Draft' Me to Challenge Cruz in '18

Texas Rep. Michael McCaul is focused on winning re-election to the House but there's another election in 2018 that "a lot of people" are urging him to pursue, The Texas Tribune reports.

That would be for Ted Cruz's Senate seat.

"It's, I think, been sort of organic, an effort to draft, if you will," McCaul said.

McCaul was non-committal about the prospect of taking on Cruz, though he did jab at the senator who "for the most part spent a lot of time running for president" during his time in the upper chamber.

"Like [Ronald] Reagan said, never say never, but it's not something I'm spending a whole lot of time thinking about right now," McCaul said Wednesday in Austin.

If he did decide to launch a campaign against Cruz, he would face a 32-point deficit, according to a new poll.

But Cruz's refusal to endorse Donald Trump during a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention seems to be fueling support for McCaul, the House Homeland Security chairman.

"I think that's an obligation that we have to support the nominee," McCaul said.

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