If Trump loses, it will likely mean that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will have become President. In addition to cabinet officers, sitting and former Vice-Presidents are frequently elected President. The most recent examples include Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, with Lyndon Johnson succeeding after Kennedy’s assassination and then being elected President in his own right.
I must have missed the Humphrey administration in history class. When was that?
Nixon was not a sitting vice-president when he was elected. The last sitting vice-president to be elected president prior to Bush senior was Martin Van Buren. There hasn't been a cabinet official later be elected president since Herbert Hoover. To claim that former cabinet officers and sitting vice presidents are frequently elected president is just plain false. Cruz knows that.