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Who could be the next Ted Cruz? Top 10 tea party primaries of 2014.

Who are the tea party movement's top candidates in 2014, and what are their prospects? Here's a look:

3. Texas: John Ratcliffe vs. Ralph Hall

Matt Slocum/AP/File
John Ratcliffe, seen here as US attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, responds to questions at a news conference in Irving, Texas, in April.

Update: Tea party-backed John Ratcliffe beat Rep. Ralph Hall (R) of Texas, the oldest person ever to serve in the US House, in the May 27 GOP primary runoff in Texas. The vote was 53 percent to 47 percent. 

Here’s the background:  Congressman Hall was hoping to serve one more term in Congress, after 34 years in the lower chamber. Now in his early 90s, Hall had announced this would be his last campaign. That’s now a done deal.

Mr. Ratcliffe, a former US attorney and former mayor of Heath, Texas, is often identified as a “constitutional conservative” rather than “tea party." But the end result is the same: He has been endorsed by the Senate Conservatives Fund, Club for Growth, the Madison Project, and Tea Party Express.

“The contrast between the two candidates could not be any starker,” the Madison Project said during the primary campaign. “Whereas Hall has turned his position into a career devoid of any desire to fight the status quo, Ratcliffe is picking the arduous path to a congressional seat precisely because he wants to send a message to career politicians.”

Club for Growth President Chris Chocola calls Ratcliffe “a constitutional conservative who will champion economic freedom and individual liberty in Congress.”

The Texas congressional delegation had rallied around Hall, with the exception of Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Steve Stockman.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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