Posted on 08/24/2015 10:55:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The conservative 2014 Senate challengers have endorsed the candidate who, like them, hopes to be a vessel for anti-establishment frustration.
Ted Cruz's presidential campaign may not get many endorsements from Senate colleagues. Not coincidentally, the Texas senator is racking up support from primary challengers who tried but failed to unseat some of those senators last year.
Tennessee's Joe Carr, Mississippi's Chris McDaniel, and South Carolina's Lee Bright, three conservatives who opposed longtime GOP senators in 2014 primaries, have all backed Cruz for president. It's a small part of Cruz's effort to do next year what those candidates did last year: serve as a vessel for conservative voters' frustration with the political establishment.
"I think he embodies the mood of the folks around the country," said Bright, Cruz's South Carolina campaign co-chair. Bright added that Cruz is "the anti-establishment candidate, and that's what many of us were, and I think that's why we've gravitated towards him."
Bright, a state senator who ran against Sen. Lindsey Graham (but didn't come close to defeating him) in 2014, has remained in the middle of South Carolina's political battles this year. Earlier this summer, Bright was one of the leading voices in opposition to the removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds.
Carr, a former state representative who ran against Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee in 2014, became the latest to endorse Cruz last week. Like Cruz, Carr took a hard-line stance on immigration in his campaign, repeatedly accusing Alexander of supporting "amnesty." After losing the Senate primary—but holding Alexander below 50 percent of the GOP vote—Carr tried unsuccessfully to unseat the chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party.
"In our U.S. Senate race our campaign received over 271,000 votes. Those are Cruz voters, and I am going to do all I can to make sure they understand Ted Cruz is our best candidate for president of the United States," Carr said in a statement.
Then there's McDaniel, Cruz's Mississippi co-chair whose challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran was one of 2014's bitterest campaigns. McDaniel, a state senator, joined Cruz on the campaign trail in Mississippi earlier this month.
"We are happy to have the endorsements and support from true conservatives who are committed to replacing the Washington cartel in order to get conservative reforms to grow the economy, preserve individual liberty, and keep us safe from our enemies," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said.
All three former Senate candidates and current Cruz endorsers also hail from the South, a region that will play a crucial role in the GOP nominating contest—and one that's getting particular attention from Cruz. South Carolina is the third state on the GOP primary calendar, while Mississippi and Tennessee will vote on March 1, the same day a handful of other Southern states—including Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas—participate in the "SEC primary."
Cruz doesn't have any Senate endorsements to tout yet, and he may not have many more than that by the time the Southern Super Tuesday rolls around. But those senators' old antagonists are already flocking to him.
I read an article similar to this a couple of weeks ago that said it was a solid strategy.
I don’t remember all the details but it went something to the effect of; This was the way Carter won the primary in 76.
I am loathe to mention Carter’s name in the same sentence as Cruz, but if it works...
Good.
I stand with Ted
TED CRUZ - keep on doing what you are doing.
At least one of Sen. Cruz’ failed 2012 primary opponents works for his campaign and proudly so.
It makes sense to me.
A chance for revenge is a powerful motivator.
They, their campaigns and, by extension, all of us were victims of the GOPe and we’re highly motivated to deliver a good old-fashioned ass whuppin’ to the GOP’s “chosen one” Jeb Bush. I’m amazed that some of these guys, especially Chris McDaniel, even call themselves Republicans any longer.
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