Can Ted Cruz Podcast His Way to the White House?

Three nights a week, late in the evening, Senator Ted Cruz pulls a microphone from a Pelican case, unscrews a bottle of Bai flavored antioxidant water and opens a window into how modern American politics is being shaped. The host of Verdict with Ted Cruz, Cruz has built one of the most listened-to political podcasts in Washington — and that reach may matter for any future presidential ambitions.

Reach and format

Verdict, launched in 2019 amid the first impeachment of Donald Trump, can draw as many as two million downloads a month and is syndicated on iHeartRadio. Episodes typically run 30 to 40 minutes and are co-hosted by conservative commentator Ben Ferguson. Cruz and his team pick a handful of topics each session, sketch a rough order and record late at night; the resulting episode appears the next morning for a loyal audience.

Why the podcast matters

The show gives Cruz a direct line to listeners in a way that traditional cable segments or stump speeches do not. The podcast allows longer, explanatory deep dives into legal and policy issues, more conversational moments and a chance to showcase personality beyond talking points. As Cruz has described the medium, a good podcast should feel like "sitting in a cafe having a cup of coffee and just talking across the table."

"We started with zero listeners, and within a week, it skyrocketed to being the number one ranked podcast in the world," Cruz said in a recent interview.

From platform to political advantage

Podcasts and social platforms let politicians cultivate audiences directly. For an officeholder with high name recognition, an extensive email list and a proven early-state track record, that audience can translate into campaignfuel: fundraising, rapid mobilization and an ability to shape narratives without relying on intermediaries. With Donald Trump currently ineligible under the Constitution to run again, Cruz begins any 2028 conversation with several structural advantages — and a podcast that amplifies them.

Media change and the rise of influencers

Politics now operates in a fragmented media ecosystem where national influencers and social personalities often command the attention once reserved for prominent broadcasters and local papers. As voters spend more time online and on mobile devices, campaigns increasingly act as content operations, producing material tailored to social feeds and podcast listeners rather than merely courting traditional press.

Local news is shrinking

The decline of local newspapers is one piece of this transformation. New Hampshire's longstanding local daily now has a daily circulation below 16,000, while the Des Moines Register's weekday circulation has fallen by roughly half since 2018 to about 27,446. With fewer local outlets setting the agenda, national platforms and personalities can exert outsized influence in early primary states.

Campaigns as content factories

Some operatives argue campaigns must behave like professional content creators — producing shareable clips, podcasts and social videos that can be distributed directly to supporters. Retail campaigning still matters, but increasingly for the content it generates: a clip from a county fair can reach far more people online than the few dozen at the event itself.

Audience and partisan differences

Cruz and his team note clear demographic distinctions among listeners: older conservatives are likelier to reference cable appearances, while younger, podcast-listening men may engage primarily with long-form audio. So far, these digital shifts appear more pronounced on the right, where personality-driven media and national influencers have reshaped parts of the electorate; Democratic voters as a group still rely more heavily on traditional media and institutional endorsements.

What it all means

Verdict with Ted Cruz is more than a side project. It is a direct line to voters that complements traditional campaigning and helps build a national brand. Whether that advantage is decisive in a presidential primary remains uncertain — retail politics and local connections still matter — but in a political landscape shaped by social platforms, podcasts like Cruz's create a meaningful shortcut between a candidate and a motivated audience.