Bob Juback interview with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in Myrtle Beach on February 10, 2016
Juback: You say you’re happy with New Hampshire (third-place finish, with 11.7% of the vote. Donald Trump won with 35.3%) but I doubt you’d be happy with a third-place finish in South Carolina.
Cruz: “Last night (Tuesday) was remarkable. That’s two weeks in a row. Voters have defied the pundits and the media. A week ago in Iowa, everyone said there was no chance we could win. I watched them before the Iowa caucuses and pundit after pundit said no way Cruz could win. Then we had an overwhelming first place victory in Iowa. As courageous conservatives showed up in record turnout.”
Juback: What is a courageous conservative?
Cruz: “A courageous conservative is someone who stands for his principles and is willing to stand up and fight for it. And the amazing thing, Bob, is we say the exact same thing in New Hampshire. Everyone said ‘fine, Iowa is a conservative state but a conservative can’t do well in New Hampshire and can’t do well in a moderate New England state. It will never happen. You can’t have a good finish.’ Well, we ended up with a strong third-place finish and shocked the pundits. They didn’t predict it because, once again, as we saw in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the Reagan Coalition came together. We saw conservatives, evangelicals, libertarians. We saw young people and Reagan Democrats all coming together. That’s what it’s going to take to win this primary and what it’s going to take to win the general election in November.”
Juback: And you can expect the same kind of showing here (South Carolina)?
Cruz: “It is very much what we see right now on the ground in South Carolina. South Carolina has been the chooser of Presidents. Iowa and New Hampshire narrowed the field and that gives South Carolina a clear choice. But South Carolinians take this seriously and responsibly but now we have as a clear a choice than has ever been presented. Do you want a campaign conservative? Someone who talks a good game but who hasn’t walked the walk? Or do you want a consistent conservative? Do you want someone who’s been the same yesterday, today and tomorrow? Someone who’s spent his whole life fighting for the Constitution, fighting for the Bill of Rights. I’m telling you. The grassroots support we’re seeing on the ground in South Carolina is incredible. We’re seeing the Reagan Coalition coming together. We’ve got nearly 10,000 volunteers on the ground in the state of South Carolina, making phone calls, knocking on doors and I am thrilled to be back in South Carolina.”
Juback: Sounds like you expect a win on the 20th?
Cruz: “I hope we will do well. I believe we will do well. That’s up to the men and women of South Carolina. And our approach has been to work to earn the votes of the people, to stand in front of them and answer their questions. You know this race is going to be won friend-to-friend, neighbor-to-neighbor, pastor-to-pastor. We have over 300 pastors in South Carolina who signed up for our campaign. We have pastors in each of South Carolina’s 46 counties. And it is a critical role, particularly for Christians who are so dismayed at the assault on our values, the assault on life, the assault on marriage and the assault on religious liberty. In 2012, the last Presidential election, 54 million evangelical Christians stayed home. It’s heartbreaking. Is it any wonder our country in the direction it is, if believers are not showing up to voting our values? We’re working to energize conservatives, evangelicals, libertarians and Reagan Democrats because if we stand together, we can turn our country around.”
Juback: What do you think of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) endorsing Rubio?
Cruz: “Tim is a good man and a good friend of mine. Marco is a charming fellow. He’s very well liked in Washington. And one of the choices voters will have is do you want someone who Washington embraces? Do you want someone who goes along with the get-along? Really, Marco is a great illustration of what happens in Washington.”
Juback: He’s been in Washington about the same amount of time as you.
Cruz: “Yes, but our paths have been very, very different. So Marco, when he campaigned promised the men and women of Florida, if you elect me, I will lead the fight against amnesty. I promised the men and women of Texas the exact same thing. You go back and look at what we said to the voters. They’re almost identical. But when we came to Washington, we made very different choices. Marco immediately broke his promise. And not only did he not lead the fight against amnesty, he joined arm-in-arm and got into bed with Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. He led the fight and passed a massive amnesty bill. I made a very different decision. I made a decision to honor the commitment of the voters who elected me and I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeff Sessions and Steve King and millions of Americans and we led the fight to defeat the Rubio-Schumer amnesty bill. When you join with the Democrats and the Washington establishment like Marco Rubio did, you’re very well liked in Washington. All the Washington lobbyists get behind you just like they did with Marco. When you stand with the American people instead, the Washington cartel is furious with you. But that’s the only way we can turn this country around is to have a President whose loyalty is with the people who elected him and not with the big money and the political interests in Washington that are bankrupting our kids and grandkids and selling us down the river.”
Juback: Thank you, senator.
Cruz: “Thank you.”
