Ted Cruz mulls 2024 presidential bid, says his 2016 campaign 'was the most fun I've ever had in my life'

• Sen. Ted Cruz said he's "certainly looking" at a 2024 presidential bid.
• "I'll tell you, 2016 was the most fun I've ever had in my life," he told Newsmax on Thursday.
• Cruz lost the 2016 GOP presidential nomination to then-candidate Donald Trump.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he's thinking about a 2024 bid for the White House in an interview on Thursday evening.

"Well, sure, I'm certainly looking at it," Cruz said during an appearance on Newsmax.

"I'll tell you, 2016 was the most fun I've ever had in my life," he continued, reflecting on his last presidential campaign.

The Texas senator was the first candidate to run for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, eventually facing a crowded field of 17 opponents, including real estate mogul and celebrity Donald Trump.

Cruz had held a strong position in the primary elections, yet Trump repeatedly garnered the most Republican support as the frontrunner. Cruz dropped out of the race in May after he lost the Indiana primary to Trump.

"We came incredibly close, had an incredible grassroots army," Cruz told Newsmax.

At the time, Cruz refused to endorse Trump once he became the presumptive GOP nominee. The two bitterly feuded for months on the campaign trail, infamously attacking each other's wives and lobbing insults at one another.

"It's not easy to tick me off. I don't get angry often, but if you mess with my wife, if you mess with my kids, that will do it every time," Cruz told reporters after Trump tweeted a photo mocking Cruz's wife. "Donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone."

Over the past four years, the two have become allies. Cruz was one of the many GOP officials that perpetuated Trump's lies that the 2020 race was rigged. The Republican lawmaker also led the challenge to the election results in the Senate.

Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle later blasted Cruz's efforts to discredit the election results. GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming has said that the move should be a "disqualifying" factor in the 2024 race.

Should Cruz run in 2024, Trump could become his opponent yet again, as the former president has left open the possibility of launching his third presidential campaign.

Cruz told Newsmax that his focus right now is on the battle for the Senate in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections.

"Whether it is in the Senate, or whether it is in a presidential campaign, I'm committed to fighting to defend free enterprise, to defend freedom, and to defend the Constitution and Bill of Rights," he said.