Cruz Set To Beat Trump After Mike Lee Endorsement

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• Senator Mike Lee is set to endorse fellow senator Ted Cruz for president.
• This marks Ted Cruz's first endorsment from one of his fellow senators, which Cruz's opponents have knocked him on.
• Senator Lee was also being courted by Marco Rubio who was disapointed to miss out.
• This is the second high profile endorsment to come to Cruz this week.

MIAMI — Senator Ted Cruz is expected to receive the endorsement of Senator Mike Lee of Utah on Thursday, according to someone familiar with the decision, netting Mr. Cruz the public support of a Senate colleague for the first time.

The endorsement provides a counterpoint to the criticisms leveled against Mr. Cruz by opponents like Donald J. Trump, who has reveled in the fact that the Texas lawmaker could not attract the support of a single senator for much of the campaign. It is also a blow to Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who is friendly with Mr. Lee, as he strains to catch Mr. Trump before Tuesday’s Florida primary vote.

Mr. Lee appeared with both Mr. Cruz and Mr. Rubio earlier in the campaign and had expressed concern with the tenor of the race.

“It’s not easy to see them fighting,” he said last month outside a barbecue restaurant in South Carolina, where Mr. Cruz was set to hold an event.

Mr. Lee is admired by the conservative base for his anti-spending positions, and Mr. Cruz had long coveted his endorsement. The men had a spat last year during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, after Mr. Cruz argued that measures proposed by Mr. Lee would weaken punishments for violent offenders. Mr. Lee called that a mischaracterization.

The moment seems to have passed, and now Mr. Cruz, a day after announcing the endorsement of Carly Fiorina, is better positioned to make the case that the primary is becoming a two-man race.

Even longtime skeptics of Mr. Cruz, like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have begun to express an openness to his candidacy — if only because many establishment Republicans see him as the lesser of two evils with Mr. Trump.

Aides to Mr. Cruz and Mr. Lee did not comment on the endorsement plans. On Thursday, the Cruz campaign alerted reporters to a “major endorsement” announcement at 3 p.m. at the site of the evening’s Republican debate.