Sen. Ted Cruz told reporters in Hollywood, Florida that he will do “very well” in California’s June 7 primary election because of support from more than a quarter million volunteers nationwide.
Cruz called GOP frontrunner Donald Trump a “niche candidate” who Democratic Party frontrunner Hillary Clinton would beat in November.
Cruz told reporters:
The final state to vote will be the state of California, 172 delegates. The big enchilada. I believe we’ll do very well in California. Our organization on the ground is incredible. Ya know the strength of our campaign is the grassroots. We’ve got over 260,000 volunteers and California is going to decide this race. And I’ve very encouraged by how we’re going to do in California.
Cruz California political director Michael Schroeder confirmed to Breitbart News that the campaign has 41,000 volunteers in the state. The 260,000 cited by Cruz refers to the volunteers for the entire Cruz campaign.
The Texas senator has repeatedly called for another debate and said Wednesday:
Forty-one days since we’ve had a Republican debate because Donald Trump is unwilling to stand on a stage and debate. Because he cannot defend his positions or his policies. He has no substantive economic positions. His proposal for massive…tariffs to raise taxes on American citizens, would be economically disastrous. When it comes to foreign policy he proposed withdrawing from NATO, the day before the Brussels attack and he’s proposed reducing our military aid to the nation of Israel.
Cruz called the positions he described as “hopelessly naive, weak and isolationist foreign policy positions.”
One reporter asked about the delegate system and whether it seems anti-democratic. Cruz again accused Trump of “whining” and called the GOP frontrunner a liar.
Donald also hasn’t been telling the truth. Donald claims that these are ‘voterless elections’ and unfortunately far too many people in the press just repeat his absurd allegations.” Cruz has been touting his wins in Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin, Wyoming and North Dakota, two of which did not hold primary elections, but rather chose delegates as the district assembly and state party convention levels. Wyoming held a mix of caucus and convention to decide how many delegates each candidate received.
Cruz compared his win in Wisconsin to Trump’s win in New York:
Last night in New York, Donald got fewer votes in New York than I got in Wisconsin. And yet, the delegates rules give Donald many more delegates for winning New York than I got for winning Wisconsin. Now that is the way a representative system of government works. You don’t hear me up here complaining and whining, gosh it is so unfair that New York Republicans have their votes count more than double what Texas Republicans have them vote. In Texas I received over twice as many votes as Donald Trump received in New York, that’s the way the system works.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana