WINAMAC, Ind. — Ted Cruz barnstormed Indiana with a motley crew of campaign surrogates who cast Tuesday’s primary as a do-or-die moment in the 2016 presidential race.
The Texas senator took the stage in Lafayette, and reminded voters that the clock was ticking to make a decision.
“We are 51 hours away from polls closing in Indiana,” Cruz said. “This is a battle for our kids, this is a battle for our future, this is a battle for our freedom. The men and women here are going to decide the course of this battle not just for Indiana, and not just for the Republican Party, but for the entire country.”
Cruz was preceded onstage by his running mate Carly Fiorina, conservative radio host Glenn Beck, his wife Heidi Cruz, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, and Texas congressman Louie Gohmert.
Each speaker seemed to raise the stakes of Indiana’s election higher than the preceding speaker. Gohmert called it a “defining moment.” Lee followed with a declaration that “flyover country is going to decide this election.” Fiorina declared, “This is the fight of our time.”
Beck, who introduced Fiorina, told the audience that God had decided Hoosiers would have the ultimate say in 2016.
“God is making sure that every single person, every single voice is being heard this time around. He’s not going to say: ‘Oh well somebody on the east coast did it. Somebody in Florida did it,'” Beck said. “He wants you to know, in Indiana, that you are putting your name down on good or evil, liberty or slavery, you are making the decision.”
Attendees told the Washington Examiner they viewed Indiana as critical to Cruz’s success, but did not see the Hoosier State as representing the end of the road. Cruz supporters said he should continue campaigning regardless of the primary’s results on Tuesday.
“There’s a long ways to go. Indiana is a key state obviously. I think he’s going to win Indiana, and then he’s going to go on and head west and pick up those states over there and on to California, and I think we’ll take California,” said Brian Colgan, of central Indiana. “I think there’s still a pathway [if he loses Indiana] and obviously he thinks that too, or he wouldn’t be doing this.”
Cruz trails front-runner Donald Trump in polls in both states. He trails Trump by a wide margin, according to the latest delegate tally. He has the support of 565 delegates, while Trump has 996 delegates.
Cruz’s stable of surrogates will grow Monday. Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is scheduled to make multiple stops with Cruz in the afternoon. Pence endorsed Cruz on Friday.
