Free Republic

Longtime Democratic state Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City is switching parties as Republicans press to make new inroads in South Texas and after redistricting made his district much more favorable to the GOP. Guillen was set to make the announcement Monday morning during a news conference in Floresville where he was joined by Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont. "After much consideration and prayer with my family, I feel that my fiscally conservative, pro-business, and pro-life values are no longer in-step with the Democrat Party of today, and I am proudly running as a Republican...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with reporters during an event in Iowa on Nov. 28, 2015. (Photo by Patrick Svitek) LAMONI, Iowa — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday night condemned the fatal shooting of three people at a Planned Parenthood location in Colorado while urging caution regarding the suspect’s motives. “We don’t know ... what those motives were, but whatever they were, it’s unacceptable, and it’s horrific and wrong,” the Republican presidential hopeful told reporters here before a town hall. Cruz is among the first — if not the first — GOP candidate to denounce the shooting, which happened Friday in Colorado Springs and...

As Ted Cruz traipses through the South, his mentions of one Republican draw more derision than that of any Democrat, President Obama and presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton included. Jeb Bush. During campaign stops Monday and Tuesday in Tennessee and Mississippi, Cruz's references to the former Florida governor, now a staple of the senator's stump speech, often elicited loud booing, sometimes accompanied by scattered shouts of "Establishment!" or "RINO!" (Republican In Name Only). For months, the Republican Texas senator has been alluding to Bush as the archetypal moderate, insufficiently conservative and guaranteed to shut the GOP out of the White House...