Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday that “there is no alliance” with Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign and that Mr. Kasich decided to withdraw from Indiana “in his own political self-interest.”
“I recognize that the media is all eager to talk about an alliance. There is no alliance,” Mr. Cruz told reporters in Indiana. “Kasich and I made a determination where to focus our energies, where to focus our assets, where to focus our resources.”
Mr. Cruz called Mr. Kasich a “good” and “honorable” man. He said he and Mr. Kasich disagree on a number of policy issues, but they agree nominating GOP front-runner Donald Trump would effectively hand the presidential election to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“So John Kasich made the decision in his own political self-interest to withdraw from Indiana and to go compete elsewhere and that was a perfectly reasonable decision,” Mr. Cruz said, going on to ask for the backing of Kasich supporters in Indiana.
The Cruz and Kasich campaigns had issued press releases minutes apart on Sunday evening laying out their plans for Indiana, Oregon and New Mexico.
Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in a statement on Sunday that the Cruz campaign “will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead.”
John* Weaver, the chief strategist for Mr. Kasich’s campaign, said Sunday they would focus their time and resources in New Mexico and Oregon and give the Cruz campaign a “clear path” in Indiana.
Mr. Trump has mercilessly mocked the announcement since then and called it a “horrible act of desperation.”
* (Correction: John Weaver’s name was corrected in an updated version of the story.)
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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