Ted Cruz grabs another prominent conservative endorsement
Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council, threw his weight behind Ted Cruz on Tuesday, giving his endorsement to the Texas senator during an interview with Fox News.
"I have many friends in this race, but I believe the one who is best positioned, best prepared to lead this nation forward, pulling it out of the tailspin this president has put us in, I believe it is Ted Cruz," Perkins told network host Megyn Kelly.
The endorsement, Perkins added, was a personal one.
"I know him. I've worked with him. I've watched him in the Senate," he said.
Cruz's defiant acts in Congress -- including spearheading an Obamacare protest on the Senate floor ahead of 2013's infamous government shutdown -- have marked his tenure in the upper chamber. His antics have also served as a point of tension among colleagues in his own party.
But when pressed about Cruz's ability to be president with his contentious legislative history, Perkins noted that "if everyone gets along with you in this city, you're in trouble."
"That means you're not doing anything worthwhile," he added.
Of Cruz's rival Donald Trump, Perkins only said that he did not plan to "say anything negative" about the GOP front-runner.
Perkins, the evangelical head of the prominent pro-life, pro-traditional marriage advocacy group, is the latest in a line of conservatives who announced their support of Cruz in the days leading up to the Iowa caucuses.
Talk radio host Glenn Beck gave his nod to Cruz last week over social media and appeared at two Iowa rallies hosted by a super PAC backing the 2016 contender.
Former Republican presidential contender and ex-Texas Gov. Rick Perry also endorsed his one-time rival in a video released Monday, saying the fellow Texan was a "consistent conservative candidate."