According to Ted Cruz, the fight for the 2016 Republican nomination is now just a two-man race: billionaire businessman Donald Trump and himself.
The Texas senatorâs comments came Wednesday morning during an interview on âThe Mike Gallagher Radio Show.â Cruzâs evidence: the fact that he and Trump were the top Republicans in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Though Cruz said the first caucus and the first primary play a huge role in the primary process, he told Gallagher that South Carolina is more important.
âSouth Carolina historically has played a critical role picking presidents. And I think Iowa and New Hampshire perform an incredibly important function in narrowing the field â and in many ways, this field is becoming a two-person race between me and Donald Trump,â he said.
He added, âWhat Iowa and New Hampshire demonstrate is that the only person in this field who can beat Donald Trump is me. The other candidates are not able to beat Donald Trump.â
Of the remaining seven candidates competing for the Republican nomination, Cruz went on to say that he is best poised to beat Trump from the right.
âYou canât beat Donald coming from the left. It doesnât work,â he said. âIf you campaign against Donald saying, âHey, Iâm more liberal than you. Iâm more into amnesty than you. Iâll be softer on radical Islamic terrorists than you.â It doesnât work, as weâve seen twice in Iowa and New Hampshire.â
Also in the interview, Cruz forewarned that the race to become the GOPâs establishment candidate will soon get âbloody.â
âJeb Bush got a new lease on life last night ⌠that energized the Jeb Bush campaign. John Kasich also had a good night,â Cruz said, according to Politico. âI think youâre gonna see Kasich and Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio all fighting it out for the establishment lane.â
Listen to Cruzâs interview below via Buzzfeedâs Andrew Kaczynski:
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