Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday that a win in the Wisconsin primary would have “national repercussions” for the 2016 GOP presidential race and that he’s “hopeful and optimistic” about the energy and momentum he’s been seeing.
Mr. Cruz said “the entire country” is looking to Wisconsin Tuesday.
“Wisconsin has a national platform and megaphone, and if we end up with a win tonight, it is going to have national repercussions not just for the 42 delegates at stake here in Wisconsin, but I believe it is going to powerfully impact the states to come, and I am hopeful and optimistic with the energy and momentum we’re seeing,” Mr. Cruz said on WTMJ radio.
Most recent polling has shown Mr. Cruz with a slight edge over GOP front-runner Donald Trump in the state. The latest delegate tally, according to the AP, has Mr. Trump with 737, Mr. Cruz with 475, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich with 143. A candidate needs to win 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination before the July convention in Cleveland.
Asked if he wants Mr. Kasich to drop out of the race, Mr. Cruz said: “Well, I think any candidate that doesn’t have a path to winning, that that’s the time when you should suspend your campaign.”
“And at this point, Kasich has been mathematically eliminated — he needs more than a 100 percent of the delegates to be the nominee,” Mr. Cruz said. “That’s obviously impossible — you can’t get more than a 100 percent.”
He also pointed out that Mr. Kasich’s lone win came in his home state of Ohio.
“John Kasich is a good and honorable man,” Mr. Cruz said. “But he doesn’t have a path to win and at this point, well, Mitt Romney put it very well two weeks ago when Mitt Romney said a vote for John Kasich is a vote for Donald Trump, that it simply divides the vote.”
“And if you don’t want to see Donald Trump as the nominee and if Donald is our nominee, it elects Hillary [Clinton]. It hands the general election to Hillary,” Mr. Cruz said.
Mr. Trump has claimed in recent days that Mr. Kasich is actually taking votes away from him.
“Kasich shouldn’t be allowed to run. Honestly, Kasich should not be allowed to run,” Mr. Trump recently told reporters. “He hurts Trump much more than he hurts Cruz.”
Mr. Kasich has brushed off talk of getting out of the race, saying delegates at an open GOP convention are going to look to his electability and record when they ultimately decide on a nominee.
“Everybody needs to chill out,” Mr. Kasich said in a recent interview on CNN. “I’m in New York, we’re going to do well here; I’m going to Pennsylvania — we’re excited about that. And we’re going to go to an open convention, where kids are going to learn a lot more about picking presidents than they do about spending time just on Snapchat.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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