Cruz went to Washington in 2012. Not exactly a lifetime in Washington.
There was 99-03 too.
But point well taken
He worked in the Bush administration before that
When did he do that easy job of convincing Kennedy to pass his Supreme court rulings? Certainly he was in DC during that time.
Cruz went to work for the Bush campaign in 1999. After Bush became president, he was an associate deputy attorney general at the DOJ. Then, he was the director of policy planning at the Federal Trade Commission.
He was Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008. He attempted to run for Attorney General for Texas, but abandoned the bid because Greg Abbott decided to run for re-election.
Cruz was in private practice from 2008 until he became a US Senator in 2013.
After he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1995, he clerked for the US Court of Appeals 4th Circuit & then for William Rehnquist (SCOTUS) IN 1996.
He worked in the private sector; 2 different law firms, for about 6 years (1997-1998, 2008-2013).
It’s been 20 years, last year, since he graduated from law school.