A devout Catholic couple in Massachusetts is pleading to regain custody of their teenage daughter, alleging that her school encouraged her to transition without their knowledge.

Joseph and Arlene Kutzko say they have not seen or spoken with their daughter Sophie, now 17, since 2024. The couple told Fox News reporter Lauren Green that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families removed Sophie from their home because they would not recognize her as a boy, citing their religious beliefs.

Speaking on Green’s Lighthouse Faith podcast, the Kutzkos alleged that employees at Algonquin Regional High School introduced Sophie to gender-related ideology behind their backs.

Joseph Kutzko said the dispute began after administrators and counselors in the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough allegedly exposed Sophie to “LGBTQ teachings and topics” that he said conflicted with the family’s Catholic faith.

By late November 2024, when Sophie was 15, her father said she had become increasingly distant from the rest of the family.

Sophie also began remaining at school after hours for what her parents believed was extra math assistance. The couple later claimed those sessions involved counseling connected to gender transition.

The parents became visibly emotional while discussing their daughter and said they did not understand what was happening until the school contacted state child welfare authorities and Sophie was removed from their care.

“We didn’t find out until after Sophie was removed,” Joseph said. “It came on like a tornado.”

Vernadette Broyles, the couple’s lawyer who works with the Child and Parental Rights Campaign, said that the school participated in ‘secret transitioning’ after learning that ‘Sophie had started to reject her sex.’ 

‘The school began to use male pronouns and non-binary pronouns to refer to her by a male name in these secret counseling sessions that we suspect to affirm this rejection of her sex. And all of this was happening completely secret to the parents,’ Broyles told Green. 

The couple is now fighting to keep Sophie from receiving high-dose testosterone – something that does not qualify as ‘ordinary’ medical care and needs consent from parents or permission from the court, Broyles argued. 

She said that they have since filed a motion to block this from happening.  

‘We are actively fighting in court to keep them from really poisoning this young lady with testosterone. 

‘We are actively fighting because DCF wants to proceed with this,’ their lawyer continued. 

DCF has also gone on to accuse the mother and father of alleged abuse against their daughter, they explained. 

Joseph was previously arrested over these allegations, but according to Broyles, the claims of physical abuse ended up being ‘untrue’ and ‘unsupported.’ 

‘The only thing that’s left is an allegation of neglect that has never been described. We do not even know the specific reasons for this unclear neglect charge against them,’ she said, adding that they believe the charge stems from Joseph and Arlene refusing Sophie’s transition. 

More than anything, they want their daughter to come back and live with them again, but they can’t get in touch with her. 

‘I even begged them just to hug her or kiss her. They said they can’t; they will not allow it,’ an emotional Arlene said. 

Joseph added: ‘The most important thing is to bring her back to our family, but a shorter-term goal is to prevent them from giving her testosterone … We’re begging the state, “Please, do not give our daughter testosterone”.’ 

It is unclear where Sophie resides currently. 

When contacted by the Daily Mail for comment, the Public Schools of Northborough and Southborough said that it ‘aggressively and unequivocally’ denies the claims made by the Kutzkos. 

‘We are aware of the claims being circulated by two individuals whose child formerly attended one of our schools in 2023,’ Superintendent Gregory L. Martineau said. 

‘The district unequivocally denies the claims made about the school district in a recent national media podcast as not merely baseless but grossly insensitive, intrusive and dangerous toward the child who was named in the media report. 

‘Even a cursory glance at the state mandatory reporting guidelines for all school employees should cast wide doubt on the claims made in the national podcast as having absolutely no basis in reality.’ 

The Daily Mail contacted the Kutzkos, Algonquin Regional High School, Broyles, and DCF for comment. 

Lily Rabe embraces drama and the unexpected, whether she is choosing an outfit or stepping into a new role. “I don’t ever like to stay in a comfort zone,” she tells Alexa. “That’s what keeps it all exciting.”

For red-carpet appearances and special events, the actor turns to an eclectic group of designers. “Rodarte. Erdem — a total fave,” she says during a one-on-one interview in New York City. “I love Honor. Bora Aksu. Oh, and Bode.”

Her off-duty wardrobe has a clear favorite, too: “I definitely have a Mayle obsession for my personal life.”

At 44, Rabe has built a career moving fluidly between theater and film, as well as classic works and contemporary material. “I have a sort of insatiable appetite for work,” she says. “Right now, I’d say I do feel very sated.”

There is good reason for that sense of fulfillment. Rabe is in the midst of a major theater season, having wrapped her run opposite Raúl Esparza in “The Winter’s Tale” on Aug. 23. The production marked her fifth appearance in the Public Theater’s free Shakespeare in the Park series.

Rabe returns to Broadway on Sept. 29 at the Hudson Theatre in “Other Desert Cities,” which officially opens Oct. 18. She plays Brooke, a troubled writer whose memoir brings a wealthy family’s deeply buried history to the surface. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ed Harris play her parents, while Allison Janney stars as her aunt and Joe Keery as her brother.

That lineup of celebrated actors has made director John Benjamin Hickey’s new staging of Jon Robin Baitz’s 2011 play a Mohave hot ticket.

Rabe joined the cast for its first read-through on Aug. 25, though an earlier photo shoot with her new co-stars had already left a lasting impression. “I’m in love with all of them,” Rabe says.

While Rabe has previously worked with Harris, the revival is her first acting collaboration with the rest of the ensemble. She did share the Tony Awards stage with Louis-Dreyfus in June, when the pair presented the Best Play honors. Louis-Dreyfus is an 11-time Emmy winner.

“I’ll watch her in anything. I wish she were our president,” Rabe says, referring to Louis-Dreyfus’ politically sharp role in “Veep.” “Although I’m glad she’s not, because I wouldn’t be able to do this play with her.”

Then again, Rabe, along with her two brothers, knows all about real-life remarkable relatives. She’s the daughter of the late Oscar-nominated actress Jill Clayburgh (“An Unmarried Woman,” “Starting Over”), who died in November 2010, and the 86-year-old Tony-winning playwright David Rabe (“Sticks and Bones”). 

Creativity is in her DNA. “My dad is a really smart guy,” says Rabe. “He did not have a fancy upbringing at all. But he had a love of language and determination.” 

And so does she. Her mom’s legacy? Rabe pauses, as if flashing back to younger days in New York City, where she was born, before moving to Westchester and then the Connecticut countryside.

“She was such an incredible mother,” says Rabe. “She was so curious. She was always leaning in and leaning forward. She had no regrets.”

What her mother did have was a striking sense of style. “She had great clothes, and she looked beautiful in them,” says Rabe. “I remember running around in a costume from a Bertolucci movie. I always loved dressing up.”

Rabe’s grown-up passion for fashion runs deep. During an Alexa photo shoot at the historic 1850s Captain Barnes mansion on Staten Island, the sight of clothes by Prada, Chloé, Dior and others turned her into a kid in a couture store. 

“We all felt like we were in New Orleans,” she says, adding that the experience was “singular.” 

She feels that way about NYC. After 12 years of either being based in Los Angeles or bicoastal, Rabe is back in Manhattan full time with longtime partner and frequent co-star Hamish Linklater (“Widow’s Bay,” “Midnight Mass”) and their four kids — ages 4, 6, 9 and 19.

“It’s my favorite city in the world,” she says. “I’m close to the theater again, whether that means doing plays or going to see them.” 

She didn’t expect to be away from the stage so long. It’s been 11 years since Rabe’s last star turn at the Delacorte Theater. Her last Broadway show, “Seminar,” ended its run 14 years ago. At the opening night celebration for “The Winter’s Tale,” Linklater slipped Rabe a note that spoke volumes about her return to the stage and NYC: “Happy homecoming.”  

She met him through her mom in 2006, when he and Clayburgh acted in an off-Broadway play. Flash forward two decades: they’re a family of six. “We love parenting together,” Rabe adds, even if they are in “a constant state of doing a circus juggle. We’re super scrappy about it.” 

With their three young kids and a college student from his previous relationship, that’s required. “We’re not parents who don’t say no,” she says, “but we don’t have hard-and-fast rules.”

The couple got close 16 years ago, a breakout time for Rabe. While studying theater at Northwestern University, she’d made her screen and stage debuts in 2001 and 2002, respectively, alongside her mom. She notched three roles between 2005 and 2009 on Broadway, including her debut as the shy Annelle in “Steel Magnolias.”

Then, in 2010, director Daniel Sullivan cast her as Portia opposite Al Pacino in “The Merchant of Venice.” Linklater played her love interest. The show earned strong reviews in Central Park, transferred to Broadway, earned her a Best Actress Tony nomination and helped open doors wider to stage and screen roles.  

Since then, TV and film work has kept her busy — and in good company — alongside Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and others in Ryan Murphy’s spooky anthology series, “American Horror Story.” A sampling of Rabe’s characters includes a few ghosts, a witch and famous aviator Amelia Earhart.

“It was a tremendous gift in my life,” Rabe says. “The thing that I loved most about it is that it was like being in a repertory company.” 

Her newest film is “Capsized,” a comedy drama with Rhys Ifans about a dysfunctional family. 

Rabe’s screen work isn’t just in front of the camera. In 2023, she co-directed “Downtown Owl,” a comedy set in a fictional small town in North Dakota. Harris played a local resident, and Rabe portrayed a teacher who’s new to the neighborhood.

“Ed can do anything,” she says. “I feel something very familial with him.”

That plays out in “Other Desert Cities,” a dramedy that goes inside the lives of the politically conservative Wyeths of Palm Springs, Calif. It’s a story stacked with complexity, curveballs and whip-smart language. She appreciates its take on how our nearest and dearest can be the hardest puzzles to crack.

“Often the greatest mysteries of our life are from what’s closest to us — and that’s our families,” says Rabe. “I find that to be a harrowing idea. And compelling. And exhilarating.” 

A week into rehearsals, Rabe’s sense of connection has grown deeper with her castmates, she says in a follow-up chat. “I feel it with every single one of them in ways I can’t explain. You don’t really want to explain it. You just feel it.”

On location: Our cover shoot took place at Staten Island’s Captain Barnes, a landmarked 1850s mansion built for oysterman Stephen D. Barnes and his wife, Judith Van Pelt. One of the last survivors of Staten Island’s Captains’ Row, its architecture blends Italianate and Gothic Revival traditions with Moorish flair. “Over its many lives, the house has been used or remembered as a sailors’ boarding house, speakeasy, cabaret and gathering place for artists,” says owner Biagio Pergolizzi, who is restoring the house with his wife, Giovanna. “Today, while it remains our family home, we occasionally open its doors for film, photography, music, celebrations and other creative endeavors. The people who enter become part of its continuing story.” CaptainBarnes.com

Photographer: Victoria Will; Editor: Alev Aktar; Stylist: Anahita Moussavian; Photo Editor: Jessica Hober; Talent Booker: Patty Adams Martinez; Hair: Peter Butler at Tracey Mattingly using Oribe; Makeup: Mary Wiles at Walter Schupfer Management using Counter Beauty; Manicure: Kayo Higuchi at Bryan Bantry Agency using Chanel Le Vernis; Lighting Director: Timothy Young; Photo Assistant: Tessa Dillman; Digital Tech: Dustin Betterly; Fashion Assistant: Dominic Turiczek, On-set Assistant: Yared Glicksman

The family of Charlie Kirk has submitted a notice of claim, the formal step that can precede a lawsuit, against Utah Valley University, the state of Utah and several people connected to campus administration and security planning. The filing alleges that lapses by those parties contributed to the wrongful death of the Turning Point USA founder.

“The risk of a rooftop shooter should have been especially top-of-mind given the attempted assassination of President Trump, Charlie Kirk’s close friend and political ally, by a rooftop shooter the previous year,” the filing states. The Sept. 9 document was signed by attorneys Loren Washburn, Brett Parkinson and Clifford Parkinson, who represent the Kirk family.

Among the claims outlined in the notice is an alleged conversation between Turning Point USA staff and UVU Police Chief Jeffrey Long. According to the filing, organizers said students had told them that the roof of the Sorenson Center was accessible. The building was described as “pretty close” to Kirk’s scheduled speaking location and sits directly west of the Losee Center, the building from which authorities say the fatal shot was fired.

“If this is true, it would be nice to either have it controlled access or allow one of my guys to be there as well,” a TPUSA representative allegedly wrote to the police chief, according to the claim. “If possible.”

Long allegedly responded: “I got you covered.”

Kirk, 31 and the father of two children, was killed in a campus courtyard on Sept. 10, 2025. Authorities have said a lone shooter positioned himself on the rooftop of the Losee Center, across the open area from the event. Tyler Robinson, 23, the man accused in the shooting, entered a not-guilty plea through his attorneys during an arraignment held nearly a year later.

“His murder was entirely preventable and, in fact, would not have happened had the State of Utah and UVU followed through on their stated security promises, which included protecting the rooftops surrounding the quad where Charlie was speaking,” said Brett Parkinson, an attorney for the Kirk family. “Those failures not only robbed Charlie Kirk of his life, but also robbed his family of their husband, father, son, and brother, with impacts that will compound for the rest of their lives.”

The prospective plaintiffs in the filing are Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, and their two juvenile children. It also acknowledges potential claims from his parents, Robert and Kathryn. The filing does not specify monetary damages. In addition to the wrongful death claim, it also raises a claim of “state-created danger” under the U.S. Constitution.

Kirk, who built TPUSA into the country’s largest conservative campus and youth-oriented activist organization in the country, also spoke at the Republican National Conventions in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He had become a personal friend of the president’s as well as other prominent figures, including leading Utah politicians, the notice continues.

As a result, he had detractors, faced death threats, and publicly spoke about that before his assassination.

“You should not have to walk around with security for your entire family and for myself just because you support a politician or political candidate or certain values,” he said at an event in May 2025.

“We get death threats,” he continued. “People want to murder us.”

Political violence was on the rise as Kirk geared up for TPUSA’s 2025 campus speaking events, titled, “The American Comeback Tour.” The filing references the numerous attempts on Trump’s life, the home invasion hammer attack on California Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, and the murders of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark.

“Tragically, the UVU Parties failed to rise to the occasion,” the filing alleges. “Through a series of stunning failures and reckless decisions, the UVU Parties created a foreseeable danger to Charlie.”

The allegations include a failure to perform a meaningful risk assessment or understand the significance of Kirk’s visit to the UVU campus. Campus police allegedly did not have a written security plan or hold a security briefing in advance.

The second was “walking [Kirk] into a fishbowl” — surrounded on all sides by tall buildings or other elevated positions. “The UVU Parties could have declined to approve the Tour event in the outdoor quad location, or could have moved the venue indoors or to a more secure location, as it had done for controversial speakers in the past,” according to the filing. The school also failed to dedicate additional resources for the outdoor venue despite the allegedly greater risk.

There were only six campus police officers assigned to the event, while Kirk’s appearance attracted roughly 3,000 spectators, according to the filing.

“On information and belief, [UVU Campus Police] Chief Jeffrey Long requested approval from then-UVU President, Astrid Tuminez, to allocate more than the six officers — which represented only 25% of the UVU police force — but his request was denied,” the filing continues.

After the denial, campus police did not seek additional resources from neighboring departments, such as the Orem or Provo police departments, according to the filing.

“The UVU Parties’ planning was so deficient that when Mr. Kirk was shot first responders were not available and Mr. Kirk was transported to Timpanogos Regional Hospital in a private vehicle, not an ambulance,” the notice continues.

The school and its leaders also had “exclusive power” that TPUSA and Kirk’s security team did not have, such as authority to create a security perimeter, use physical barriers, deploy metal detectors or use other “common sense safety measures like those utilized at sporting events on campus.”

Although the campus had a security camera system, footage was not monitored in real time, according to the filing — and there were no drones to monitor rooftops or any other part of the “sprawling outdoor event.”

“After-the-fact review of the footage at the Preliminary Hearing in the criminal prosecution of the alleged shooter Tyler Robinson showed the shooter running across the roof of the Losee Building to a ‘sniper’s nest,'” attorneys for the Kirk family wrote. “If such footage had been monitored in real-time, Kirk’s tragic death could have been avoided.”

Despite warnings to the police chief about rooftop access in the area, the Losee Center rooftop was not secured. This, according to the filing, happened despite the fact that students were known to frequent the rooftop and people often found discarded “beer bottles and other trash” or paraphernalia there.

Together, all of the alleged failures placed Kirk’s life in danger, according to the filing.

“He was legally entitled to believe that when the UVU Parties approved the Tour event to be held on campus on September 10, that the UVU Parties would only hold the event in a venue and with associated security measures that made the event safe for him to attend and participate in,” the notice reads. “Instead, Mr. Kirk was exposed to the danger of a rooftop shooter that took his life.”

House lawmakers have voted to end the war in Iran, passing a war powers resolution designed to prevent President Donald Trump from continuing military action without approval from Congress.

The late Tuesday night vote was 220-204, closely mirroring earlier votes this summer. A handful of additional Republicans joined Democrats in backing an effort to bring the conflict to a close.

None of the previous resolutions has reached the president’s desk, where Trump would be expected to veto the legislation.

‘Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?’ said Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., who served as a Marine in the Iraq War and led the push for the resolution.

Moulton said Congress must ‘actually ask tough questions, as the Constitution directs us to do, rather than be subservient to another warmongering administration.’

Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned what military assets Democrats would seek to pull from the region, arguing that Iran remains a threat.

Mast said Trump opposes ‘forever wars’ and is working to end what he described as decades of hostilities involving Iran.

‘They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States,’ Mast said. ‘Enough is enough.’

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 would give Congress a mechanism to limit the president’s use of military force without congressional authorization. 

The action is likely the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. 

The war that Trump launched on February 28 has dragged, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months. 

Before voting even began, Representative Thomas Massie read aloud articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the House floor, putting the secretary’s conduct during the Iran war in the spotlight as lawmakers weigh whether or not to invoke the War Powers Resolution.

He accused Hegseth of unlawfully continuing US military action against Iran without proper authorization from Congress.

Massie’s move could force House Republicans into an uncomfortable showdown over Hegseth’s conduct, although impeachment itself is far from certain. 

The Kentucky congressman filed the measure as a privileged resolution, meaning the House must take it up within two legislative days, setting the stage for a potentially explosive vote.

And Massie did not give his party a heads-up that he was doing this, according to Axios. 

Massie has been one of the most outspoken Republican critics of the Iran war and of Trump’s use of military force without congressional authorization.

In July, he said the Iran war had ‘significantly weakened’ the United States, and in 2025 he introduced his own bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna.

The vote on Tuesday comes after the House already passed two similar Iran War Powers resolutions this year, with a small group of Republicans joining Democrats both times.

In June, the House passed H. Con. Res. 86 by 215-208, with four Republicans breaking with their party to support it.

Those Republicans were Representatives Tom Barrett, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson and Thomas Massie.

On July 23, the same four Republicans again voted with Democrats as the House passed H. Con. Res. 89 by 214-208.

The House Clerk’s official tally shows four Republicans voting yes and 207 Republicans voting no.

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The July vote marked the second time the House had successfully approved an Iran War Powers resolution.

In the previous House actions, four Republicans voted to halt the war in Iran, but that number rose to seven in Tuesday’s war powers vote, including GOP lawmakers from battleground Iowa, Rep. Zachary Nunn and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and retiring Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

They joined GOP Reps. Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky voting in favor of the war powers resolution, with all Democrats.

Fitzpatrick has argued that his support is rooted in congressional authority rather than opposition to US military action against Iran.

After voting for an earlier resolution in May, Fitzpatrick said the United States was safer after Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been degraded but argued that the country was also a nation governed by the rule of law.

He said the War Powers Act requires conflicts lasting more than 60 days to come before Congress and said lawmakers had to follow the law as written.

Fitzpatrick had also introduced his own War Powers legislation back in April designed to comply with the 1973 law while allowing more time for cease-fire negotiations.

Barrett also has a similar view.

After voting for the June resolution, the Michigan Republican said ‘Congress has the exclusive authority under the Constitution to declare war and authorize the use of force.’

He argued that the War Powers Act had given the president temporary authority that had expired and that Congress should decide the scope and limits of the Iran mission.

Barrett has also proposed his own authorization for use of military force, which would establish specific objectives for the Iran operation, prohibit an occupation or nation-building in Iran and impose reporting requirements and a deadline on the conflict.

Massie and Davidson have also voted for both House Iran War Powers resolutions.

Last week Trump said he expects the war to end immediately after the November midterm elections, while reports have indicated that some of his senior advisers privately warned the conflict could continue much longer.

Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration’s military action remain a longshot so long as the president is able to fend off or veto the measures. 

While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander in chief to engage in some military actions. 

The War Powers Act, created in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict, sought to put a more specific time limit on the president’s power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.

Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with less than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

Voters are confronting high prices, particularly for gas at the pumps, as the conflict disrupts the flow of oil resources through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that the war has cost more than $380 billion  as of August 1, and is projected to be costing between $2 billion and $3 billion monthly, depending on the intensity of the fighting. 

The budget office projected inflation will be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected heading into 2027 due to the war. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged at a press conference Tuesday the need to bring gas prices down.

But the Republican speaker said he believes the Iran conflict is entering a ‘new phase’ as allies step up to help stabilize the region. When that happens, he said, ‘you´re going to see, as the president said, anytime gas prices will go down again, the cost of groceries will as well.’

Johnson said Trump expects the shift after the election, and the speaker added, ‘I’d love it to happen today.’

Trump himself had promised not to involve the US in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate. 

Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.

Sen. Ted Cruz said Republicans will face a defining internal battle over the party’s direction ahead of the 2028 presidential race, arguing that there is no clear successor who can replicate Donald Trump’s singular political appeal.

In the latest episode of “Pod Force One,” the Texas Republican — a 2016 presidential contender who has acknowledged his own continued interest in the White House — told host Miranda Devine that the GOP should expect a crowded, competitive contest to choose President Trump’s successor.

Asked whether Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio could simply inherit Trump’s mantle, Cruz said Republican voters, rather than party leaders, would settle the question through a robust primary campaign.

“I think we are going to have a full and vigorous primary and discussion,” Cruz said. “I think the voters are going to decide who are we and what do we believe, and that matters.” He added that Trump stands apart as a political force: “President Trump is a unique historical figure. I’m going to say right now, there is no Donald Trump on the horizon to succeed [him].”

Cruz repeatedly declined to delve into a potential 2028 Republican primary matchup involving himself, Vance or Rubio, saying such speculation can wait until after the midterm elections.

“There will be plenty of time to have these conversations,” he told Devine. “We are less than two months out from the midterm election. This is the most consequential midterm I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Still, Cruz offered his assessment of the likely Democratic field, warning that the party’s ideological shift could lead to a far-left candidate reaching the Oval Office in 2029.

Full Episode

“I think the Democrat Party has gotten radical and extreme, but what’s dangerous is radical and extreme can win,” Cruz said.

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“I don’t want to wake up in two years and find a radical, left-wing zealot in the White House, and I think there’s a very real danger of that,” he warned, while adding that someone like Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who is often described as a centrist, has no shot at winning the party’s nomination.

On the GOP side, Cruz explained that “as a party, we’re going to have a discussion … I think voters are going to say, ‘All right, who’s got the backbone, who has the strength, who has the record to continue this?’” 

“And no one’s going to step into [Trump’s] shoes, but we’ve got to keep winning … and who can produce it?” 

Cruz said the debate taking place within the GOP is about both foreign policy and economics. 

“Economically, are we a small government, free market conservative party? Or are we a big government nanny state party?” he said.  

“And related to that, on foreign policy, are we an isolationist party? Do we want to just withdraw from the world? Or do we believe in American leadership in the world?”