Picking another establishment GOP presidential nominee in the mold of Mitt Romney, John McCain or Bob Dole to run in 2016 will guarantee that Hillary Clinton wins the White House, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview.

Republicans will lose the 2016 presidential election if they nominate an “establishment” GOP candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz told Newsmax TV on Wednesday.

In a candid and wide-ranging interview at Newsmax headquarters in Florida, Cruz predicted that a candidate in the mold of a Mitt Romney, John McCain, or Bob Dole will nearly guarantee that Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the White House.

“It will, in effect, be a third term for Barack Obama,” the Texas Republican said in an exclusive interview with “MidPoint” host Ed Berliner.

Cruz, who in March became the first major Republican to declare his candidacy, said that if he were elected president, he would put an end to the domestic and foreign policies of President Obama, which he termed a “disaster.”