Will Ted Cruz vote for Donald Trump in November? That’s a question that NRO’s Eliana Johnson and Tim Alberta tackled – albeit obliquely –in a recent article regarding the backlash Cruz has received from donors following his Vote Your Conscience convention speech in Cleveland.
The article includes this interesting highlight:
Many of these supporters celebrated with Cruz the Friday before the convention began, when the Texas senator came to Cleveland to address a private gathering of several hundred conservative leaders. Over the weekend, as word spread that Cruz would not endorse Trump, tension began to build.
Several of Cruz’s prominent allies — including Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, whose endorsement Cruz had spent two years courting — caught wind of his thinking and urged him to reconsider, according to sources familiar with the discussions. They feared that he would weaken the Republican nominee heading into the general election and damage his own presidential prospects in the process.
Cruz received similar warnings from members of his team. While an explicit endorsement was out of the question, his advisers and confidants were bitterly divided over whether he should announce that he planned to vote for Trump in November: His campaign manager Jeff Roe and his longtime best friend David Panton were in favor, according to a source familiar with the internal debate, while finance chairman Willie Langston, campaign chairman Chad Sweet, and chief strategist Jason Johnson were against. (Emphasis added.)
So Cruz’s advisers and confidants were “bitterly divided” on the question of the Texas senator saying he’d vote for Trump in November? That’s not exactly an epiphany following a bitterly contested primary season. But would a “vote for Trump like me” announcement help or hurt the Trump/Pence ticket? Would it woo Cruz supporters into the Trump fold, alienate them from Cruz, or both? Are Camp Cruz and Team Trump about to kiss and make up?
What do you think Cruz should do? What are your plans in November?
H/T: The Right Scoop