Sen. Ted Cruz:
Former GOP governor compares Texas senator to Reagan
Tea party hero is “all in” to win state after receiving crucial endorsement from former Gov. Pete Wilson.
BURLINGAME — A day after Donald Trump’s chaotic visit to the California Republican convention, Sen. 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.
“Never has the California Republican primary election been so critical to the future of our nation,” said Wilson, painting Cruz as a conservative savior in the mold of Ronald Reagan. “America today is in desperate need of a strong, winning Republican leader.”
Cruz pledged to wage an intense fight for delegates throughout the state.
“I can tell you right now we’re going to spend more money in California than we raise,” said Cruz. “We’re going to be competing for all 172 delegates in California in all 53 congressional districts.”
The streets outside the Hyatt Regency were quiet Saturday, a far cry from the turbulent scene Friday when several hundred protesters blocked Old Bayshore Highway near San Francisco International Airport, forcing Trump and his entourage to park on a Highway 101 service road and make a circuitous approach to the rear of the hotel.
Like Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, both of whom addressed the convention Friday, Cruz touted himself as the party’s best shot to beat Hillary Clinton, who is close to clinching the Democratic nomination, in November.
Trump, the GOP frontrunner, is closing in on the 1,237 delegates he needs to sew up the nomination before the Republican National Convention in July. Recent polls give him a big lead in California.
But Cruz and Kasich aim to slow his momentum just enough to force a battle for delegates on the convention floor. Cruz faces a critical test Tuesday in Indiana before he turns his full attention to California, where his campaign has spent months building a robust ground operation.
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.
“We’re gonna repeal Obamacare, pass a flat tax, rein in the regulators, stop amnesty,” Cruz said. “That’s going to generate millions of new high-paying jobs, raising wages for working men and women.”
Much like Wilson, 76year-old businessman John Ben said he views Cruz as a pure conservative in the Reagan tradition.
“A lot of people are all talk, no action,” said Ben, of Mission Viejo. “Cruz is an action guy.”
But Nancy De Luna, a delegate from Riverside, personified the challenge Cruz may have in reaching socially moderate Republicans in California, a dark blue state where Republicans have dropped to 27.6 percent of registered voters. De Luna said she prefers Kasich, who struck an upbeat, inclusive tone in his speech Friday night.
“He’s rigid,” De Luna said of Cruz. “He needs to be more embracing of the different factions of the party.”
Cruz last week aimed to broaden his appeal by tapping former HP CEO Carly Fiorina as his running mate.
In a convention speech Saturday night, Fiorina railed against government overreach, claiming a “corrupt” federal government is strangling individual initiative. Fiorina acknowledged that Cruz, who has battled with his own party in recent years, has made enemies in Washington, D.C. But that, she said, is the price of leadership.
“I, for one, am reassured and proud that Ted Cruz has made enemies. It tells me he is a fighter,” said Fiorina, who belittled Trump as an impostor. “I truly believe this is a fight for the soul of our party. And I am proud and honored to stand with Ted Cruz.”
It’s unclear how much of an effect Wilson’s endorsement will have on the California primary. Glenn Gelineau, co-chairman of the Cruz campaign in San Mateo County, said the former governor’s support is a positive sign with primary battles looming not just in California but in other Western states like New Mexico, Oregon and Washington.
“It shows the party is moving toward Cruz in the West,” he said.
Trump on Friday suggested his victory in the battle for the nomination is inevitable, though he accused Cruz and Kasich of colluding to wrestle it away from him by exploiting a “rigged” system. Kasich countered that Trump’s message is too negative to succeed in a general election.
“This country has never been great when we fight with one another,” Kasich told reporters Friday. “This country has been great when people come together, they can accept one another’s differences, and at the end of the day, they do something to help their children and their grandchildren have a better life.”