Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz gave a stump speech on behalf of Sen. Mike Lee in Draper, Utah on Saturday. Cruz reminded the people of heated anti-establishment battles he fought alongside Lee, as both men are outsiders.
Lee followed Cruz with a stump speech of his own for the presidential candidate competing with Donald Trump for the Republican nomination and for a win in Lee’s home state of Utah in Tuesday’s primary caucuses.
Cruz thanked the people of Utah for sending Lee to the U.S. Senate while he recalled their embittered battles against the establishment on both the Republican and Democrat sides. He recalled his 21-hour filibuster, during which Lee never left and provided respite with long-worded questions. Cruz shared story after story of pushing back against the DC elite class and working hand in hand with Lee.
“Our freedom is at stake, our nation is dangling in the balance,” Cruz told the Draper crowd. “And it’s because Washington isn’t accountable to the people. The go to Washington, they get elected, and they stop listening to us. You hear that from Republicans, from Democrats, from independents, from libertarians — they’re not listening to us.”
Cruz emphasized the importance of holding “Washington accountable to we the people.”
He said, “It is not easy to stand up to the Washington establishment, they have all sorts of tools that they utilize. They utilize ridicule and attacks.” He spoke of senate lunches where “senators all around the table yell and scream.” Cruz specifically recalled one in which a senator yelled the complaint “My constituents keep calling me!”
Lee took the stage saying, “…There’s a difference between an imposter and a genuine article, and Ted Cruz is that difference.”
“We need a uniter. We need someone to unite our party, to expand our party and to bring us victory, and Ted Cruz is that man.”
Lee took mild shots at trailing Republican contender Ohio Gov. John Kasich and frontrunner Donald Trump, as well as socialist Democrat party candidate Bernie Sanders. He didn’t make mention of Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in speaking of who had been stumping in his home state.
Lee is up for re-election in Utah as he stands in support of Cruz for president. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Carly Fiorina, both former 2016 Republican presidential contenders, also joined Cruz and Lee for the rally. Perry and Fiorina have appeared on the Cruz campaign trail along the way. On Friday both Perry and Fiorina appeared with Cruz in a one-hour special with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
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