Republican presidential candidate received lukewarm support from one of his Senate colleagues Wednesday.
Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, told CNN he refused to support GOP front-runner Donald Trump for president, which left him to choose between Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“Obviously, Kasich is so far behind that it’s impossible really for him to get the numbers, so by process of elimination that gets you to Ted Cruz,” Risch told host Wolf Blitzer. “At this point, there’s no choice.”
The Idahoan called Trump’s unusually high unfavorability numbers problematic and cited polls that show Hillary Clinton would win in a general election match-up as his reason for not aligning with the Manhattan billionaire’s camp.
Blitzer told Risch he was the third senator — after Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee — to endorse Cruz. But a stunned Risch stepped back and told the host the idea of his statement being an endorsement would depend on how one defines it.
Graham also paired his endorsement with criticism of Cruz, but indicated the Texas senator was the only Republican presidential candidate left who could stop Trump.
