During a 2013 appearance on The Tonight Show, Cruz talked to Jay Leno about a few hot-button issues. Some highlights:
- On gay marriage: "I support marriage between one man and one woman. But I also think it's a question for the states. Some states have made decisions one way on gay marriage. Some states have made decisions the other way. And that's the great thing about our Constitution, is different states can make different decisions depending on the values of their citizens."
- On gun rights: "Do you target violent criminals, or do you try to take away the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens?"
He also sat down with Seth Meyers on March 17, saying that he and John McCain have become friends and clarifying his thoughts on same-sex marriage. "I'm a Constitutionalist," he said, adding, "It shouldn't be the federal government or unelected judging imposing their own definition of marriage. We should instead respect our constitutional system." Seth also challenged Cruz on how he feels about climate change:
- On global warming: "Debates on this should follow science, and should follow data, and many of the alarmists on global warming, they've got a problem because the science doesn't back them up . . . Satellite data demonstrates for the last 17 years there's been zero warming."
