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This Endorsment Will Hurt Ted Cruz

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  • Gov. Rick Perry endorsed Ted Cruz for president.
  • Cruz went after Perry's nomination personally, calling him and eventually driving to his house to meet in person.
  • The endorsement came just days before the Iowa caucus where Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are locked in a tie. 

(CNN) Former Republican presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is endorsing Ted Cruz for president — and his disdain for Donald Trump appears to have been a driving force.

Perry has come to “hate” Trump more than anything, according to a source familiar with the endorsement process. And while he and Cruz have never been particularly close, Cruz pushed hard to win the endorsement. The Texas senator drove to Perry's house in Round Top, Texas, several weeks ago and spent six hours with him. Cruz had called Perry relentlessly since, the source said.

Perry explained his endorsement of the firebrand senator from his home state in an interview with Politico published Monday.

“Of those individuals of who have a chance to win the Republican primary, at this juncture from my perspective, Ted Cruz is by far the most consistent conservative in that crowd,” he said.

Referencing the tight contest between Cruz and front-runner Trump that has emerged out of the fractured Republican field, Perry added that the primary race “appears to be down to two people.”

Perry and Cruz have mostly operated in separate orbits in Texas politics. Perry, then governor, endorsed Cruz's opponent in his bitter 2012 Senate primary, David Dewhurst, and since then Perry has repeatedly spoken out against the perils of electing a first-term senator as president.

Monday, Perry pushed back on criticism that Cruz is too uncompromising to be an effective chief executive.

You'll have with Ted Cruz that same result of, senators and others in the Washington establishment that are mad at him, find him to be hard to work with, they will find ways to work with him because they know he means what he says he means,” he said.

And Perry argued that Cruz was the candidate best able to speak to the fierce anti-establishment sentiment that has defined the 2016 race thus far. “Gov. Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Jeb's barely making an impact out there — those are very skilled, very successful, very experienced governors,” he said.

“But the electorate doesn't want that. That's why we have elections, why we democratically select leaders.”

Perry's high-profile support for Cruz comes at a critical juncture in the 2016 primary, with the Iowa caucuses just days away and endorsements beginning to pile up.

In the past week, Sarah Palin endorsed Trump's campaign, and the influential Iowa newspaper the Des Moines Register endorsed Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Hillary Clinton. Conservative media star Glenn Beck also announced he is endorsing Cruz, while a number of Republican establishment figures, including former GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole, have publicly attacked Cruz.

Perry, who also ran for president in 2012, finished in fifth place in the Iowa caucuses that cycle with 10% of the vote.

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12 Comments

12 Comments

  • Melanie Burns says:

    Perry was governor for Texas for 14 years! Hello?????? He does have clout! He did bring tons of jobs to Texas!!!

  • Name says:

    Perry is a conservative.

  • Daren Theige says:

    Let’s hope so. The only thing that Ted Cruz seems interested in doing as far as the Government is concerned is shutting it down. We don’t need a clown like that in the Oval Office!!!!!

  • Name says:

    he is no better then that damn womanizer than was in yrs. ago in case you don’t know who i mean i am talking about Bill Clinton the sex addict

  • Floyd says:

    can’t see any reason

  • Thomas says:

    Perry was a weak link! I don’t think it will make any difference !

  • belinda boyles says:

    CRUZ CAN’T WIN REGARDLESS OF WHO ENDORSES HIM. HE AND JEBBIE NEED TO HANG IT UP AND REALIZE WE ARE ALL ON THE TRUMP TRAIN!!

  • Mnm says:

    Check your facts. As of Jan 25. Average lead for trump is well over 10 points so that’s hardly what I call locked in a tie.

  • Gary Burns says:

    Rick Perry was my original pick for this race, as he was a governor who did something about issues I care about. Rick Perry was one of the few Veterans, strange how so many who seek the highest office never considered serving at a lower one in the military.

  • William Wynne says:

    Perry is as establishment as they come. This endorsement proves Ted is also establishment.

  • Brett says:

    Everyone needs to stop looking at everything as black and white. I do not see any white,Hispanic,Indian or others getting awards on the black entertainment network. Why is that not an issue? Let’s all get over this petty tripe.

  • parsond says:

    A man can change his mind given more evidence.

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