There has recently been a string of press detailing Ted Cruz’s attempts to poach Liberty minded voters from libertarian Republican candidate Rand Paul. These stories invariably will contain references to several former Ron Paul supporters who now back Ted Cruz, painting a picture of a movement that is at least partially divided on the presidential race.
Former Liberty Iowa Executive Director Adil Khan put together a chart demonstrating just the opposite. Of Ted Cruz’s 99 county chairs in Iowa, a paltry six of them supported Ron Paul in 2012 and only two supported him in 2008 and 2012. Khan’s graphic also notes the overwhelming support of the liberty congressional caucus for Rand Paul over Ted Cruz, with Rand winning over 3/4ths of the total endorsements and 100% of the endorsements outside of Cruz’s home state of Texas and Paul’s home state of Kentucky.
In contrast, Rand Paul announced a leadership team in Iowa that included 9 of the 10 State Central Committee members elected during the Ron Paul 2012 campaign, the vast majority of Ron’s top Iowa staff from 2012 and county co-chairs in every Iowa county that are very familiar names to Iowa libertarians. Paul has also announced over 300 endorsements in New Hampshire, which include over four dozen former Ron Paul supporters and many state representatives.
It is clear that, despite the media’s attempt to convince liberty voters that there is a race for their support, the facts just don’t bear out that falsehood. Liberty movement activists in Iowa and New Hampshire have coalesced around Rand Paul as the candidate to push the movement forward in the 2016 election.
– Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz-
*Cruz served as a law clerk to J. Michael Luttig, US Court of Appeals and William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the US in 1996
*1997 – 1998 Cruz worked at a private firm, one of his duties as private council to John Boehner.
*Cruz joined the George W. Bush presidential campaign in 1999
*After President Bush took office, Cruz served in the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. FTC
*Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008.
*From 2008, up to 2013 (when he was sworn in as a US Senator) Cruz worked for a corporate law firm representing big corporations.
After a career of mostly government positions, Cruz claims he’s an “outsider”.
Seriously? An outsider? Outside what?