Cruz said Friday that he’d “enthusiastically welcome” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s support before the state’s primary Tuesday.
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“I will be voting for Ted Cruz”, Pence said in a radio interview with WIBC in Indianapolis. Ted Cruz delivered a substance-heavy pitch to delegates, declaring he is “all in” to win the Golden State after receiving an emphatic endorsement from former Gov. Pete Wilson.
Trump has a 97 percent chance of winning enough delegates to capture the GOP nomination on the first ballot even if he loses IN, according to the Princeton Election Consortium, a collection of scholars who have analyzed poll results.
The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive mocked Mr Trump’s assertion that he is the Republican’s “presumptive nominee” during her speech at the California Republican Party’s convention.
Pence is the second Midwestern governor to back Cruz ahead of a crucial primary; before his state’s contest in early April, Wisconsin’s Scott Walker also endorsed Cruz.
But Pence’s position was clear: He wasn’t about to start bashing Trump just because he made a decision to support Cruz, though he has criticized the front-runner in the past.
Cruz also stated, “The reason that Donald is so desperately trying to get his media acolytes to say, this is over, this is over, this is over, is because Donald can not earn the support of a majority [of delegates]”. “I don’t know. He’s a great guy”. Cruz’s campaign called it an endorsement; Pence did not use the word.
Cruz portrayed himself as the true conservative in the race, a point his campaign hammered home Saturday in an email blast claiming Trump gave $12,000 in campaign money from 2004 to 2013 to three of California’s top Democrats: Gov. Jerry Brown, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Pence, who was widely ackowledged to have eyed a 2016 presidential campaign of his own, has publicly lauded Christie for his work as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. ‘”I’m for anybody but for Hillary and Bernie Sanders'”. Prominent Republicans and conservative commentators in IN have kept quiet about which candidate they’re backing.
“Apparently John Boehner is now leading an effort to maintain the status quo and just announced his opposition to me and Carly stating: ‘Over my dead body will he be president'”. “I’m not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican primary”.
Pence, however, was glowing in his praise of Trump as well.
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Cruz is attempting to prevent Trump from clinching the nomination by defeating him in the Hoosier State. “I’m grateful for his voice in the national debate”, he said.
