- Sen. Ted Cruz has made significant money since his failed 2016 presidential run.
- Cruz, like many of his other colleagues, has found he can make more writing books than his base salary.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and his wife Heidi Cruz are worth at least $2.6 million, according to an Insider review of his finances as gleaned from his yearly disclosure report.
The Trump ally and former presidential candidate has raked in money writing books, including a best-seller about the Supreme Court. Cruz reported a $500,000 advance he received from his agent. Not included in our calculation are additional $400,000 and $1,100,000 advances that are due to Cruz over a series of payments. The Texas Republican must pay a percentage to his agent plus $1 per word for "collaboration services." Cruz has another book, "Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America," due out this November.
With the publication of "UnWoke," Cruz will have penned three books since he finished second to former President Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.
Members of Congress are severely restricted in what outside income they can receive. Most senators write books to supplement their income, some advances are even worth more than their day job. Cruz also hosts a popular podcast which has a distribution deal with IHeartMedia, but rules prevent him from profiting off of it.
Heidi Cruz is wealthy in her own right. A managing director at Goldman Sachs, Cruz holds at least $1,000,001 in stock in the investment banking giant. Senate rules require lawmakers to report only broad ranges for most assets held by either themselves or their spouses. Lawmakers are not required to report the value of their personal residences, so this is not included in Insider's rough calculation. For a full methodology, please read below. Heidi Cruz also holds at least another $500,001 in her own mutual fund. The wide majority of the couple's wealth, at least $1.1 million, is parked in various funds.
They also jointly hold at least $100,000 and no more than $250,000 in shares in both energy giant Exxon Mobil and Enterprise Products Partner, a wholesaler seller of natural gas. Cruz serves on the Senate Commerce Committee that in 2022 held a hearing on rising gas prices. The juxtaposition between a lawmaker holding individual shares in a company that has business before a committee they serve on was at the root of Insider's award-winning "Conflicted Congress" series.
A spokesperson for Cruz strongly rejected there was anything untoward about the couple holding shares in major energy companies.
"There was no conflict of interest. Period," a Cruz spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. "In 2022, Sen. Cruz was a member of the Commerce Committee along with 12 other Republicans. To suggest that it was questionable for him to participate in a Commerce Committee hearing called by Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on a topic of her choosing is absurd."
As for expenses, the Cruzes have a mortgage of at least $1 million with Bank of America in Houston. Cruz was pilloried in 2021 when he stayed at a 5-star hotel in Cancun, Mexico while millions of Texans battled a nasty winter storm. Cruz later attacked his neighbors after someone leaked Heidi Cruz's text messages to their neighbors mentioning the trip.
Cruz is up for reelection in 2024 after then-Rep. Beto O'Rourke came within three points of pulling off a shocking upset. Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker, will likely be his challenger this time around.
Methodology disclaimer:
As Insider previously pointed out when we calculated the wealthiest Members of Congress, lawmakers are only required to report broad ranges for many assets. While other assets, such as the value of their personal residence, are not required to be disclosed at all. Cruz's wealth was calculated on a conservative estimated based on the minimum value of assets he disclosed. A similar step was taken to find Cruz's minimum liabilities. Insider reached Cruz's final estimated wealth by subtracting the sum of minimum liabilities from the sum from his minimum asset values.