Texas Governor Endorses Ted Cruz for President

Texas Governor Greg Abbott endorsed Ted Cruz in his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination in a video on Wednesday morning.

“Conservative values are at his core,” Abbott said in describing his former employee. He added that Cruz is a “constitutionalist whose judgment I trust to appoint the right judges to the United States Supreme Court.”

Senator Cruz was the Texas Solicitor General during the time that Abbott served Texas as Attorney General. During that time, Cruz represented the State of Texas in several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Abbott said that Cruz is a conservative we can trust to support our values. “That’s why I am supporting Ted Cruz for president,” the Texas governor stated in his video endorsement.

“Unlike far too many in Washington, the Ted Cruz we’ve seen in the Senate is the same Ted Cruz we elected,” Abbott continued. “And, he is the same Ted Cruz I served with when I was the Attorney General and Ted was our Solicitor General.”

Abbott said Cruz was a principled, fearless fighter. He described him as a “constitutionalist.” He continued and urged his fellow Texans to “do our part to take our country back.”

Senator Cruz represented the State of Texas before the U.S. Supreme Court nine times, according to the Texas Tribune. One of those cases involved a death penalty case that arose from the murder of two teenage girls in Houston by Jose Medellín. In that case, Cruz was fighting against Republican President George W. Bush and the World Court who sought to stop the execution of the Mexican national. Cruz won that case and Medellín was executed by the State of Texas for his heinous crimes.

Cruz previously clerked for then Chief Justice William Rehnquist after he graduated from Harvard Law School. He went on to a strong career as an appellate lawyer prior to being offered the Texas Solicitor General position.