Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Wednesday that the “Washington establishment” is now moving away from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and toward businessman Donald Trump in the 2016 GOP presidential race.
“We’re seeing something remarkable happening in this Republican primary,” Mr. Cruz told reporters on Wednesday, according to National Review.
“Right now, the Washington establishment is abandoning Marco Rubio, they’ve made the assessment that Marco can’t win this race, and the Washington establishment is rushing over to support Donald Trump,” Mr. Cruz said.
Mr. Cruz also said on Fox News’ “Hannity” program that there’s a need for a leader “who doesn’t get rattled by the latest drop in polls, who doesn’t wake up in the morning with a frenzy of tweets.”
“But rather, has the clarity of vision and strength to keep this country safe,” he said. “That’s what I’ll do as president … and I think that’s why conservatives are uniting behind us all across the country. It’s why the establishment is headed to Donald.”
Mr. Cruz and Mr. Trump have been jockeying for front-runner status in the early state of Iowa, and Mr. Cruz moved into second behind Mr. Trump in a CNN/WMUR survey on New Hampshire released this week.
Mr. Trump said on “CNN Tonight” Wednesday evening that Mr. Cruz’s contention was news to him.
“Well, I didn’t know that he was saying that and I didn’t know that they were abandoning Marco, to be honest with you,” Mr. Trump said. “I’m just doing my campaign, and we’re getting by far the biggest crowds. We’re getting by far the biggest poll numbers.”
“You know, he’s very concerned because his poll numbers are going down,” Mr. Trump said. “He looks very, very nervous, actually, and his poll numbers are going down drastically.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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