Some senators who are part of the GOP might get hate in Washington, D.C. but they can count on their home state to treat them well. For Sen. Ted Cruz, however, the Lone Star state isn’t a fan. Well, not everyone is a fan, anyway. When Cruz appeared on ESPN to talk about college football in a live appearance, his commentary was drowned out by the incident boos and even a “you suck” from the sports fans and Texans behind him in the crowd.
Now, a clip of that is on X, and critics of Cruz and his politics in Texas, as well as his support for Donald Trump, are chomping at the bit with excitement. To see him clearly opposed by people from the state he represents is, for many, too good not to troll the three-time senator about. Social media has let them do that in droves.
Texans apparently aren’t big fans of Ted Cruz.
ESPN had Ted Cruz on 'College GameDay' in a conversation with Rece Davis for nearly 10 minutes.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2026
Cruz was heavily booed by the crowd — and heard "Ted, you suck!" chants — in Austin. pic.twitter.com/npQesiYMsG
The X clip shows one piece of Criz’s interview on ESPN’s College GameDay. But for some, it’s enough to determine what Texans think of the senator and his Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to put a cap on payments that athletes receive, among other plans to streamline the way college sports work in the United States.
Cruz appeared on the show to promote the bill, but as soon as she is introduced in the clip, the boos start. And from there, the boos continue and get louder while Cruz tries to talk to ESPN correspondent Rece Davis. Since the interview is in front of tons of Longhorns fans of the University of Texas at Austin, the boos and anti-Cruz sentiments from the people in attendance paint a picture of how the sports fans view Cruz and his bill.
You can actually hear the moment when they turn up Ted Cruz’s microphone because of the boos.
At one point in the clip, it sounds like Cruz’s mic is actually turned up so that his voice is heard above the sounds of boos and exclamations of “you suck” directed at the senator. Even so, you can still hear the jeers from the crowd behind Cruz and Davis as they talk about college sports and the proposed bill that Cruz is championing.
One person commented on the X post, “Why in the absolute f–k would you have him on? Nobody likes him and he has nothing to do with the sport other than he’s in Texas which for him is questionable because he loves to leave the state on vacation all the time usually when the state is experiencing an emergency.”
Another person added, “Texans don’t even like this dude. ESPN needs to read the room.”
Someone else condemned the sports network and commented, “ESPN is now just the Fox News of sports.”
Locals admit that Ted Cruz is often met with boos across multiple Texas cities.
The fact that Texas not only had the comeback, got the Ohio State monkey off their back, but also broke the TED CRUZ RUINS EVERYTHING curse!?!?!? pic.twitter.com/RZIQFHo1hj
— Longhorn Republic 🎙️ (@LonghornPod) September 13, 2026
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Cruz has been booed by the people of the state he represents as a U.S. senator. In a Reddit thread about Cruz’s GameDay boos on ESPN, a user commented to share that he has been booed in Houston, Texas, too. Go Figure, right?
“He gets booed in Houston too,” they commented. “He would sit with a guy who has seats down the row from me at Astros games during their WS runs (he only showed up in the playoffs) and we booed him out of the seat by the 7th every game he showed up to.”
It sounds like Teddy is going to need to do some damage control if he wants to keep his approval rating up in the state he represents.
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