Organizing early in California and integrating grassroots conservatives into Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign will serve the Texas Senator well at the Republican National Convention in July, Cruz national spokesman Ron Nehring told SiriusXM listeners and guest host Breitbart Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle on Breitbart News Saturday.
Boyle asked Nehring to give listeners a picture of the Cruz campaign strategy in California.
“This really is a premium on organizing early,” said the Cruz national spokesman of the large and diverse state of California that elects delegates by congressional district.
Nehring spoke of becoming the state leader for the campaign last August.
We put together a statewide leadership team of 118 people. We announced that in January. Ever since we have been identifying volunteer leaders, building out the statewide leadership team, building relationships, engaging with grassroots conservative activists, we won the endorsement of the California Republican Assembly back in February. It was the first time in recent memory that that was done on the first ballot. And that’s because of a lot of the hard work that was done by members of the leadership team that we had built.
Nehring said that the campaign saw “some of the fruits of that organization” during Cruz’s recent campaign stop in California, where overwhelming enthusiasm marked two separate rallies in Irvine and San Diego. Tickets for each event sold out in less than 12 hours.
A host of the state’s lawmakers and leaders, including four former State Republican party chairmen, have endorsed Cruz, Nehring pointed out.
“This is important because many of these endorsements provide networks to which the campaign can then incorporate into our grassroots activity throughout the state.”
The campaign will go into every region of the state, according to Nehring, who pointed out the 15 television markets, very diverse regions and electorates, and slightly different issues.
Important to every Californian is “getting out from under the incredible tax burden that liberals in Sacramento have doubled down in creating,” said Nehring. Residents of the Central Valley are particularly concerned with water issues and agriculture, whereas “economic revitalization” is critically important to those in the Inland Empire, to the east of Los Angeles County.
Nehring added that conservatives in Californians are excited to “finally have a voice.”
The California primary is one the five final Republican primary contests held on June 7.
Boyle asked Nehring how the Cruz campaign comes out the winner in the event of a contested convention in Cleveland.
Nehring replied, “First we have to think about, what is the type of person that becomes a delegate to the Republican National convention?”
He argued that “Donald Trump attacks the grassroots of the party by calling everybody a party boss and a party big wig…but the reality is that the delegates who go to a state convention, a county convention, a national convention, these are the volunteers of the party…” Nehring went on to say:
It’s a reward to be a delegate and it’s a reward for people’s volunteer time and effort. These are the people who walk the precincts, who make sure there’s people on the phone banks, who make sure that the local Republican headquarters is opened up at election time. Sometimes they’ll wind up running for office. Sure, some of the delegates are elected officials and the like, but the vast majority are represented with the grassroots of the party. And the grassroots has been the critical part of our campaign from the beginning.
“Ted Cruz has been a champion for the issues that bring Republican volunteers to the party,” he said.
Nehring predicted that at the Republican National convention, “Donald Trump is never going to get more votes on the second ballot than the first.” He reasoned that this is because, as many delegates are unbound on a second vote, “they’re going to move to the candidate who, number one, has been an advocate for them and number two, has the grassroots of the Republican party at heart.”
“Strategically that is our biggest advantage,” said Nehring, who argued that Trump can’t match the Cruz team with these unbound delegates. He addded, “While Trump moves in one direction in terms of bringing in the lobbyists to run the operation, Ted Cruz is someone who’s been aligned with the grassroots of the party and the conservative movement from the beginning.”
Boyle brought up Trump’s questionable comments on the transgender bathroom issue.
In light of Cruz’s strong response to Trump’s position, Nehring said, “Donald Trump, he’s already had four positions on abortion in one day. He had two positions on this issue within just a matter of hours which were directly contradictory to one another. This is not an evolution of his position or clarification.” Nehring suggested that “part of the reason is [Trump] just hasn’t thought of these issues before and he’s not prepared to be President.”
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