Senate majority leader Garrett Mason joins more than 20 lawmakers at the State House to announce support for presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
About two dozen Republican legislators gathered at the State House on Thursday to announce their support for presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Lawmakers backing Cruz spoke about the need to change the direction of the country, accused the president of violating the Constitution and called the Texas senator a “true conservative.”
“Our freedoms are way too important to be taken for granted and we need somebody who knows that,” said Sen. Garrett Mason, R-Lisbon Falls, the Senate majority leader. “We cannot afford to continue on the path that we are on right now. We are dangerously close to disaster under this president and Maine and the entire of United States needs somebody who will stand up to our freedoms and our values. And we all here believe that person is Ted Cruz.”
The Cruz supporters were unable to produce a list of Republican legislators and activists backing the Texan. They estimated that 20 members of the House of Representatives and four state Senators backed Cruz.
Cruz is coming off his victory Tuesday at the Iowa caucuses in which he vanquished the polling frontrunner Donald Trump and U.S. Marco Rubio, of Florida. Cruz’s win in Iowa has been regarded as unsurprising given the state’s strong evangelical representation. However, he has surprised some national pundits by the margin with which he bested Trump, who has utilized his celebrity, deep pockets and immunity to damage from statements typically deemed impolitic to establish strong leads in various pre-caucus polls.
The Texas firebrand will likely face a stiffer test in New Hampshire, which holds its first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday.
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