I don’t think he has anything on them but I think they fear what could happen if there were more in DC like him.
I think he threatens the centralized power of DC.
Because he speaks common sense and stands for strong principles. He will not turn on a dime to satisfy some group.
Maybe it's that they don't have anything on him.
And I think you nailed it!
He makes their heads hurt I think. So much time and effort has been expended brown-nosing, establishing incredibly complex pecking orders, and plotting perpetual relitigations of past grievances, and then here comes Ted Cruz, the quintessential bull in a China shop. People hate Washington, Washingtonians may not want to believe it, they may go to the very frontiers of tortured logic to try to deny it, but in their shriveled, blackened little hearts they know that people are sick of their nonsense and that Cruz is well-spoken and appealing. I still don’t think he could strategize his way out of a paper bag, but what he has to say is important, and what he represents is even more important.