A few hours short of a week after he dropped out of the Republican presidential race following a devastating loss to Donald Trump in the in primary, Texas Sen.
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In an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday, one of his most vocal supporters before the Texas senator suspended his campaign last week Cruz said that he would be open to restarting his campaign if he saw a “viable path to victory”. “But let’s be very clear, if there is a path to victory … we launched this campaign intending to win”.
Cruz suspended his campaign one week ago when Trump won IN, pushing Ohio Governor John Kasich out of the race and leaving the NY real estate mogul the all-but-certain nominee.
“If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly”, he added.
Cruz would not endorse Trump when Beck asked him about the NY businessman. Campaign sources told the network that the poll results showed a “blowout” for Cruz and Rubio.
“I hope that he just wants to roll up his sleeves and go to work and get things done in the Senate, and we want to work with him on that”, Republican Conference Chairman John Thune said. Some opponents suggest they may challenge his choice, either as a protest or to try forcing him to make a different selection.
“I am not holding my breath”. But if no candidate had secured the 1,237 delegates necessary to lock up the GOP presidential nomination, that could have triggered a multi-round convention floor fight where all Texas delegates may have eventually flipped to Cruz. “It’s going to be studied for a long time”, he said.
At one point, even Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz of Carrollton, planned to seek one of the coveted delegate spots to go support his son.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, who last week issued a statement expressing lukewarm support for Trump, seemed more upbeat about Trump’s prospects in November.
The threat to the orthodoxy comes from Donald Trump, who has split from core conservative values and said he’d like to soften the platform, and a multi-million campaign from some of the GOP’s biggest donors to do the same. The founders created a government that had limited function, and presidents weren’t mean to rule unilaterally. Beck and his crew are laughing through the question and Cruz’s reply is arch.
Meanwhile, Trump was also racking up major endorsements, many of them from other former Republican candidates like Ben Carson and Gov. Chris Christie. Yet many are still reeling from the contest’s unexpected finale last week and are just starting to think about what they could do at the convention that would be productive. “Cruz takes”, Flake said.
“I suspect that’s not going to go away”, Cruz said. Kenley knocked back a challenger whose vision for the state that didn’t extend much beyond the road in front of his house.
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Nor is Cruz thinking about a third-party run.
