Abbott Endorses Cruz In GOP Presidential Race
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FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - Donald Trump notched another win in Nevada this week, and the focus of the GOP presidential race will now switch to Super Tuesday, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are all facing enormous pressure in their home state primaries.
Cruz received a big endorsement, however, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott posted a video on the candidate's YouTube page that officially put the governor's support behind the state's senator. "It is our duty as Texas conservatives," Abbott said, "to support a leader we can trust to support our values. That's why I am supporting Ted Cruz for President."
"Unlike far too many in Washington, the Ted Cruz we've seen in the Senate is the same Ted Cruz we elected, and he's the same Ted Cruz I served with when I was the Attorney General, and Ted was our solicitor general," Abbott added.
The Lone Star State is one of the key territories on Super Tuesday. Texas, Florida and Ohio account for about one fourth of the delegates up for grabs in the next three weeks. "We need to deliver," Abbott said. "This is our time. Ted Cruz is our candidate."
A failure to defend their home turf could leave Cruz and his peers each explaining what states they can win going forward, and make Trump's win look all the more inevitable.
"Conservative values are at his core," Abbott said of Cruz. "He's principled, he's fearless and he has true conviction."
Of the trio with looming home state primaries, Cruz may be in the strongest position. "I wanna say, I cannot wait to get home to the great state of Texas," Cruz said Tuesday night after losing in Nevada. "Tonight, I'll sleep in my bed for the first time in a month."
Cruz is in Houston on Wednesday for a campaign rally in the afternoon and a speech in the evening. Abbott is expected to join him on stage.
But Cruz will have to win more than just Texas if he does not want to be looking up at Trump in the delegate count.
"Ted is a constitutionalist, whose judgment I trust to appoint the right judges to the United States Supreme Court," continued the Texas governor. "Now, let's do our part to take this country back."
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