For most of his Senate career, Ted Cruz has been a thorn in the side of his party’s leadership and the target of Democrats’ scorn for his partisanship and unwillingness to abide by the chamber’s traditions of compromise and civility.
But in recent months a far different side of the Texas Republican has been in evidence as he held together the bipartisan coalition necessary to usher through renewal of federal regulation of the airline industry.
As the top Republican on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee — a job he spent more than a decade pursuing — Cruz played ...