On Saturday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas unveiled his plans for the 2024 elections.

ā€œI’m running for re-election in the Senate. I’m focused on the battles in the United States Senate,ā€ Cruz said after addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, according to the Washington Examiner.

ā€œWe need to stand and fight against these policies that are inflicting so much harm on Americans across this country,ā€ he said.

Cruz was asked if 2024 might offer Republicans a rematch of the epic 2016 battle between Cruz and former President Donald Trump, who last week announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president.

ā€œYou can consider whatever you like,ā€ Cruz said. ā€œThere will be plenty of time to discuss 2024 presidential. I get that that is a lot of fun in the media to do. There will be plenty of time for that.ā€

On Saturday, Cruz touched upon the quality of leadership on the GOP side of the Senate aisle.

Cruz was among those who participated in last week’s failed effort to thwart the re-election of Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as minority leader on Wednesday.

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ā€œWe need a real debate about how are we going to lead during the next two years in the minority in the U.S. Senate,ā€ Cruz told the Republican Jewish Coalition, according to the Texas Tribune.

ā€œAnd the question that I posed to Mitch McConnellĀ and our leadership was very simple: ā€˜Is there anything on which we are willing to fight?’ I stood in front of the conference, and I said: ā€˜Listen, I’ve traveled all over the country. I’ll tell ya: People are dispirited and demoralized because they say that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight.’ And there’s a reason for that, which is that Republicans in the Senate don’t fight,ā€ he said.

Cruz said that the presidential contest for the GOP’s 2024 nomination will be contentious as he spoke about Trump and his early announcement of his candidacy.

ā€œThere are some people who want him to do that. There are some who don’t. I think that process will shake out. We’ve seen at this conference here there some people clearly positioning to run against him. I don’t think he’ll run uncontested. I think there will be candidates that run against him,ā€ Cruz said, according to Fox News. ā€œBut we’re very early in this process. There’s plenty of time for the debates and discussions.ā€

Cruz noted that blaming Trump for the failure of the Republican Party to gain all it hoped in the midterm elections is misplaced.

ā€œThere’s lots of people who want to point the finger at Donald Trump and point to the quality of candidates,ā€ Cruz said.

ā€œCandidate quality matters. I will say, some of the nominees, particularly some of the gubernatorial nominees who raised next to no money, ran no TV commercials and didn’t really run a campaign, dammit, this is serious business,ā€ Cruz said.

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ā€œIf you can’t raise money and run a campaign, step aside and let the adults do the work that needs to be done. So I’m frustrated when my party fields candidates that have no realistic chance of success,ā€ he said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.