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Whether you’re LGBTQ+, a fan of Texas sports, or both, there’s one thing thousands of people eagerly agree on: Ted Cruz’s ability to make everything worse borders on the supernatural.
The much-lamented senator has been a leader in the GOP’s anti-trans propaganda campaign for years, even going so far as to demand an official investigation into the Bud Light-Dylan Mulvaney partnership in 2023 and cyberbully a pregnant trans teacher the year before. Cruz is hoping to ride that wave of bigotry to another term in Congress, releasing an all-out rampage of anti-trans ads this election season. But trans folks aren’t the only people for whom Cruz is bad luck — he’s also making headlines as an albatross for Texas sports teams.
The so-called “Cruz Curse” began its meme life in 2018, when Cruz attended a Houston Rockets basketball game — which the team lost, 101-92. Users at the time prophetically joked that Cruz had obviously jinxed the Rockets. In ensuing years, Cruz would post about attending several Houston Astros baseball games shortly before dramatic losses, culminating in a crushing 2023 World Series defeat and division series collapse earlier this year.
And while Cruz has indignantly pointed out that he shows up for Astros wins too, the “curse” has apparently spread to football this year. Texas A&M University hosted Cruz for a losing effort against Notre Dame in August, spurring thousands of University of Texas fans to sign a petition to ban Cruz from all sporting events due to his “downright sinister energy.” Cruz has also been blamed for a Dallas Cowboys loss last season; now, months after Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reportedly donated $20,000 to the Cruz campaign, the Cowboys are tied for 26th (out of 32) in the NFL, with oddsmakers giving them a 20% chance at best to make the playoffs.
Democrats have eagerly jumped on the “curse” meme to paint Cruz as so bad for Texas, he even ruins sports games by showing up. The Texas Democratic Party is using the domain CruzCurse.com to argue that “Texans need Ted Cruz as far away from the field as possible,” and Cruz’s opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, released a TV ad sending his condolences to A&M fans in September. “Ted’s curse shattered the dreams of Texas teams,” a mock-dramatic narrator intones over the ad’s black-and-white footage. Truly, Cruz’s accidental rivalry with every sports team in his state is the Texas Dems’ “Daisy” (you know, the wildly successful nightmare fuel LBJ used to trounce Goldwater in 1964).
On the other hand, it might have been even better if Allred’s campaign hadn’t released a disappointingly centrist response to all of Cruz’s anti-trans attack ads, in which Allred proclaimed he does not “want boys playing girls’ sports or any of this ridiculous stuff that Ted Cruz is saying.” Here’s hoping a superstitious desire to bring home the Lombardi is enough to tip Texas a little bluer, we suppose.
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