HOUSTON — IT’S weird to have a presidential front-runner in your hometown and not know it. But whatever excitement was generated here by Senator Ted Cruz’s victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses is conspicuous by its absence.

Mr. Cruz grew up here, he wears cowboy boots with his business suits and he speaks with a respectable Houston accent. Yet this city, which loves to lionize locals who make it big, has been uncharacteristically quiet about Mr. Cruz.

There is an eerie absence of lawn signs and bumper stickers. “I heart Ted” T-shirts have yet to make their debut. His campaign headquarters is not on the street but sits aloof on the seventh floor of a tall office building.

It’s all a sharp contrast to the days of “41,” George H. W. Bush, who still sends shivers up the spines of elderly ladies here, and “43,” George W. Bush, whose buddies still keep silent about his wild and crazy youth. Beloved does not begin to describe the way many local Republicans feel about Team Bush; even in this traditionally Democratic city, all those literacy galas, Astros first pitches and handwritten thank-you notes counted for a lot. There’s even a chichi dog park named after Millie, H. W. and Barbara’s spaniel.