The presidential campaigns of Ted Cruz and John Kasich announced Sunday night that they will get out of each other’s way in a select batch of upcoming primary states, attempting to bolster the strongest challenger to Donald Trump on voting day.
The Cruz camp said it would “clear the path” for Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico, and in turn, the Kasich campaign said it was pulling resources out of Indiana. Representatives for both candidates said all other states on the primary calendar will be contested — that presumably includes the all-important of state of California, which ends primary season and could push Trump beyond the 1,237-delegate threshold needed to secure the nomination before the Republican convention in July.
“To ensure that we nominate a Republican who can unify the Republican Party and win in November, our campaign will focus its time and resources in Indiana and in turn clear the path for Gov. Kasich to compete in Oregon and New Mexico, and we would hope that allies of both campaigns would follow our lead,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in a statement.
The statement from Kasich chief strategist John Weaver is almost identical in tone and content:
“Due to the fact that the Indiana primary is winner-take-all statewide and by congressional district, keeping Trump from winning a plurality in Indiana is critical to keeping him under 1237 bound delegates before Cleveland. We are very comfortable with our delegate position in Indiana already, and given the current dynamics of the primary there, we will shift our campaign’s resources West and give the Cruz campaign a clear path in Indiana. In turn, we will focus our time and resources in New Mexico and Oregon, both areas that are structurally similar to the Northeast politically, where Gov. Kasich is performing well. We would expect independent third-party groups to do the same and honor the commitments made by the Cruz and Kasich campaigns.”
The latest RealClearPolitics average of polls has Trump leading Cruz in Indiana, which votes a week from Tuesday, by about six percentage points. Kasich nets 19 percent support in a 3-man race, with Trump leading at 39 percent and Cruz at 33 percent. The numbers gurus at FiveThirtyEight, however, had Cruz listed Sunday night as a slight favorite in the state.
Oregon votes May 17 and New Mexico votes June 7. Polling is sparse in both states, with a February poll of New Mexico conducted when Marco Rubio was still in the race showing Trump and Cruz in a virtual dead heat.
