This Week in Texas Politics: What’s Next for Ted Cruz

With Walker out, the field narrows for Republican candidates and a Tribune special investigation that showed Texas Mutual Insurance paid government lawyers to do their bidding.

By Rhonda FanningSeptember 25, 2015 3:15 pm

This week, we talk with Jay Root from the Texas Tribune about the implication for Ted Cruz now that Scott Walker has dropped out of the race and hear more about his investigation of the cozy relationship between a private insurance company and state prosecutors.

As far as the Presidential race, Root says Walker’s announcement was unexpected.

“I’m honestly a little surprised that Walker went down so quickly like this,” Root says. He was ahead in Iowa but Root says didn’t have a lane that was all his, so to speak.

“He was sort of all things to all people,” Root says. The same issue may have taken down former Gov. Rick Perry as well, he says.

Ted Cruz has been “Dr. No” type, saying Boehner’s resignation is a good thing for the party.

“For the first time Donald Trump’s meteoric rise seems to be coming to a fall here,” Root says.

Outsider candidates – Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, Donald Trump – were ahead during the summer but those rising stars may begin to fall.

“At some point, I think that gravity tends to come down there and bring some of them down, the same way they did some of the outsider candidates in the 2012 campaign,” Root says. “When they do, I think Ted Cruz is well positioned to take advantage of that.”

Also, this week a Travis County Judge weighed in on an investigation from the Tribune regarding Texas Mutual Insurance and state prosecutors.

“A lot of people had no idea this was going on,” Root says. “The DA’s office takes their complaints and prosecutes people who have allegedly defrauded Texas Mutual.”

Now, several city officials are investigating the relationship between the insurance company and the state government. Root says the commissioner’s court can’t do much but County Judge Sarah Eckhart has said they are looking into creating more transparency in the contract between the District Attorney’s office and the court system.

Hear more in the audio player above.