Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the deceased Christian televangelist, endorsed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Tuesday.
Falwell Jr. is president of Liberty University, a Christian institution founded by his famous father more than 40 years ago, where Texas Sen. Ted Cruz formally announced his presidential bid. Trump visited Liberty on the campaign trail earlier this month.
“I am proud to offer my endorsement of Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” said Falwell Jr. in a statement shared by the Trump campaign. “He is a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.”
Trump said he was “honored” to receive the endorsement and noted that Falwell Jr. has a “wonderful family.” Falwell’s father led the Moral Majority political movement that rallied evangelicals for political candidates and conservative causes.
The endorsement comes just days before the caucus in Iowa, where Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s competition for evangelical support could decide the Hawkeye State results. NBC News/SurveyMonkey’s new weekly election tracking poll shows Trump has gained five percentage points among white evangelicals nationally during the past week, while Cruz has dropped nine percentage points among the same group.
Trump leads Cruz by 17 percentage points among white evangelicals nationwide, 37-20, in the NBC News/SurveyMonkey tracking poll. Last week, Trump led Cruz by three percentage points among the same voting bloc. But the latest Quinnipiac poll in Iowa shows Cruz leading Trump among the state’s evangelicals 39-27.
Cruz ranks first in the Washington Examiner‘s newest GOP presidential power rankings. Trump ranks second.
