Sen. Ted Cruz said Thursday he’ll continue his bid for the GOP presidential nomination as long as he has a “path to victory,” saying he believes he can win a majority of delegates at the Republican convention in July.
“We are continuing as long as we have a path to victory, and I believe we are going to earn a majority of the delegates at the convention,” Mr. Cruz said on WIBC Radio in Indiana.
The Texas senator reiterated his contention that no candidate will reach the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination before the convention — something he had said even before Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s decisive wins in five states Tuesday.
“Donald wants everyone to think this is over, and the mainstream media wants everyone to think this is over,” Mr. Cruz said. “The reason the media wants it is because the network executives are all Democrats, and they want Hillary [Clinton] to win. They know Donald is the only candidate on earth Hillary can beat. As long as we have a path to victory, I am in this race to win it.”
Mr. Cruz had been asked if he planned to push forward in the campaign regardless of Tuesday’s outcome in Indiana.
“We are fighting to the end, we are fighting to win, and we are going to do everything possible to win here in Indiana,” he said.
“If Republicans continue uniting behind this campaign, the Hoosier State has the ability to step in and make a choice using common-sense Midwestern values of who we want to lead us, who we are, and I believe we are a positive, optimistic, forward-looking, conservative nation with common sense conservative values,” Mr. Cruz said.
He also downplayed criticism from some quarters that his announcement of former 2016 GOP rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate Wednesday was an act of desperation.
“Oh look, that’s Donald’s talking point — it’s what he always says,” Mr. Cruz said. “Donald’s response to everything is to yell and scream and curse and insult, so you know whatever happens it’s going to be one of those four things.
“So sure, he’ll say desperation — he’ll say whatever particular attack he wants,” Mr. Cruz said.
Mr. Cruz said he started out with a list of more than 40 people who the campaign assessed were plausible vice presidential candidates, eventually narrowing the list down to 17 and then five.
“It became clear to Heidi and me and to the entire team that Carly brought the right package of knowledge and experience and judgment and character, and at the end of the day it was a very easy choice,” he said.
Mr. Cruz declined to float any of the other names out, saying it’s not a “kind thing to do.”
“But you know, look — it’s a lot of the people you would naturally think of … other candidates who were in the field, other elected leaders and prominent leaders, people who have earned respect and who have been in the trenches battling for conservative principles,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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