Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and one of Donald Trump’s main rivals in the Republican presidential primary, has endorsed the Republican nominee in a lengthy Facebook post. “After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump,” Cruz wrote Friday. “I’ve made this decision for two reasons. First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word. Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary.”
Cruz’s endorsement comes months after the conservative firebrand declined to lend his support to Trump in his primetime speech at the Republican National Convention. In Cleveland, Cruz had instead asked Republicans to “vote their conscience”, an implicit endorsement of a movement to have pledged delegates to vote against Trump for the nomination. In his Facebook post, Cruz acknowledges this entreaty but also notes that he also made a pledge to support the GOP nominee.
The day after his Cleveland speech, however, Cruz told reporters the pledge he signed was “abrogated” after Trump attacked his family. Earlier in the year, Trump has suggested Cruz’s father, who was born in Cuba, was somehow involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Trump cryptically threatened on Twitter to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife on an unspecified scandal. The eventual GOP nominee also retweeted an image mocking the physical appearance of Cruz’s wife Heidi Cruz, comparing her unfavorably to Trump’s own wife Melania Trump.
“@Don_Vito_08: “A picture is worth a thousand words” @realDonaldTrump #LyingTed #NeverCruz @MELANIATRUMP pic.twitter.com/5bvVEwMVF8“
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2016
For these attacks, Cruz called Trump a “sniveling coward” and demanded Trump “leave Heidi the hell alone.”
“I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father,” Cruz said the day after his speech in Cleveland.
What’s changed since the convention? It’s not clear much of anything about Trump’s positions have changed, nor did Trump ever apologize for the attacks on Cruz’s family. In fact, the day after he accepted the nomination, Trump revived the conspiracy theory about Cruz’s father and the JFK assassination—unprompted—at a press conference. Trump also did a number of deplorable things following Cleveland, such as attacking the Khans, a Gold Star family who spoke at the Democratic National Convention.
What has changed, however, are Trump’s electoral prospects. After the Democratic convention and throughout the month of August, Hillary Clinton held a significant lead over Trump in the national and swing-state polls. But in recent weeks, Clinton’s numbers have dropped, giving Trump a better shot than before at winning the White House.
In his Facebook post, Cruz explained his support by citing a number of policy reasons, including the Supreme Court—for which Trump released an expanded list of potential nominees earlier on Friday—and Trump’s stated support for an internet freedom law.
Cruz is up for reelection to the Senate in 2018, though he is likely to face a Republican primary challenge in the form of congressman Mike McCaul.
