Ted Cruz in 2024? Texas senator says he'd 'absolutely' consider another presidential run
AUSTIN, Texas — In an interview with a teenager, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz expressed interest in another presidential run.
The Texas Republican told Brilyn Hollyand — a 15-year-old from Alabama who has previously interviewed notable conservative figures, such as Charlie Kirk and Kevin McCarthy, on his news service The Truth Gazette — that he would "absolutely" consider another run.
"In a heartbreat," Cruz said of the idea. "I ran in 2016. It was the most fun I've ever had in my life."
Cruz was one of 17 candidates who sought the Republican nomination in 2016, only to lose to Donald Trump that year. In his interview with Hollyhand, the second-term senator said there was precedent for the "runner-up" to almost always be the party's next nominee for president.
He added that his campaign raised $92 million for a presidential run, a number Cruz said was a record for Republicans. But Trump raised more than $785 million during his most recent presidential campaign. The Gazette says a full interview will be published on Christmas Eve.
Trump previously has signaled interest in running for president again in 2024, but neither he nor Cruz has officially entered the race just yet.
If Cruz doesn't run for president in 2024, he'll likely seek election to a third-term in the Senate.
—Austin American-Statesman
57-year-old hiker found dead 200 feet below Grand Canyon trail, park officials say
A 57-year-old hiker’s body was found in the Grand Canyon, park officials said.
Ralph Stoll, of Scottsdale, Arizona was found dead 200 feet below the Boucher Trail on Tuesday, the National Park Service said in a news release.
Park officials received a report of the missing hiker around 8 a.m. and began an aerial search by 10 a.m., officials said.
Stoll’s body was located between Yuma Point and Dripping Springs, near the Boucher Trail.
His body was flown to the South Rim. The park and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office are examining his death.
Eighteen people had died in the Grand Canyon in 2021, the park service told McClatchy News at the end of August.
—The Charlotte Observer
North Macedonia's Zoran Zaev resigns as prime minister
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The prime minister of North Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, has submitted his resignation to parliament following the defeat of his Social Democratic Party in local elections held in October.
Zaev's move had been expected, as he said in the immediate aftermath of the polls that he intended to resign both as prime minister and party leader, the latter of which he did in November.
In the time that has since elapsed, Zaev has worked to ensured an orderly transfer of power, which is to take place without a change of government.
A week and a half ago, the Social Democrats elected Zaev's preferred candidate — former deputy finance minister Dimitar Kovacevski — to succeed him as party leader.
Kovacevski is now also positioned to become prime minister, thanks to the narrow majority held by the party in parliament. The Social Democrats also have the backing of a small ethnic Albanian party.
Zaev served as prime minister from May 2017 to January 2020 and then again since August 2020.
His signature achievement was the settlement of the long-running dispute with neighboring Greece over the name Macedonia.
Zaev proposed and won a 2018 referendum on changing the country's name to North Macedonia in order to begin EU accession negotiations.
The renaming came into effect in 2019.
However, now Bulgaria is blocking the start of North Macedonia's EU membership negotiations.
—dpa
Libya election could be delayed to late January, commission says
Libya’s election body said a presidential vote scheduled for Friday can’t go ahead and proposed holding it a month later, calling on parliament to resolve obstacles to the landmark ballot in the OPEC nation.
The High National Election Commission said the inadequacy of electoral legislation was a main obstruction to the vote taking place as scheduled. Its proposal to instead hold the first round of presidential elections on Jan. 24 will need parliamentary approval.
The election is a key step following long-running United Nations-brokered talks aimed at ending a decade of conflict that ravaged the North African country and battered its economy.
Among those who registered to run for president are a son of Libya’s former autocratic leader Moammar Gadhafi, eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the prime minister of the unity government.
The commission’s proposal came after the parliamentary body tasked with overseeing the vote said a Friday ballot would be impossible.
Local outlets including Fawasel Media cited the head of the election commission as saying key officials at the organization had resigned amid a failure to hold the vote on time. TV channel 218 later reported the commission denied that.
—Bloomberg News
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