Carly Fiorina Falls Off The Stage While Introducing Ted Cruz In Indiana

Since being announced as Ted Cruz’s running mate last week, life on the campaign trail hasn’t been all that easy for Carly Fiorina. While campaigning in Indiana on Sunday, Carly Fiorina was on stage to introduce candidate Ted Cruz when she fell off the stage. Fiorina’s appearance saw her introduce members of Cruz’s family on to the stage before introducing Cruz himself as the next president of the United States. Only seconds later, to the audience’s shock, Carly Fiorina fell off the stage.

According to Salon, immediately following the tumble, Heidi Cruz reached out for the falling Carly Fiorina. However, Ted Cruz continued greeting members of the crowd, unaware of what was happening right in front of him. The angling of the video from the speech doesn’t appear to show exactly how Fiorina managed to fall off the stage, and the vice presidential candidate isn’t believed to have been harmed as a result of the tumble. That being said, it provides a somewhat embarrassing gaffe for a campaign that had brought Carly Fiorina to Indiana in a last-ditch attempt to claw back some votes from Donald Trump, who currently leads Ted Cruz by 15 points.

Watch Carly Fiorina Fall Off an Indiana Stage in Unfortunate Metaphor for Entire… https://t.co/K1FMrx1a9x #NotMeUs pic.twitter.com/n4G3hrNXPX

— The Progressive Mind (@Libertea2012) May 2, 2016

As reported by Raw Story, Ted Cruz’s Indiana appearance was set up to look like a very family affair, with Carly Fiorina introducing who she referred to as the “next First Family of the United States.” It’s an image that didn’t exactly play out as expected, with Carly Fiorina falling off the stage as Ted Cruz and his family emerged.

Family has been an integral theme of Ted Cruz’s campaign for the Republican nomination so far, and that’s no surprise considering he claims family values are at the heart of his policy. It looks as if this Indiana appearance was set up to introduce Carly Fiorina as a member of the Cruz family following her announcement as Cruz’s vice presidential candidate last week. However, it’s likely that Carly Fiorina falling off the stage in front of a live audience isn’t the image that the Cruz campaign was looking to portray in Indiana.

Following an unsuccessful presidential bid herself, Carly Fiorina re-entered the race last week when Ted Cruz named Fiorina as his pick to be vice president should he make it to the White House. Fiorina’s announcement as a vice presidential candidate was designed to boost Cruz’s support amongst demographics that he wasn’t currently reaching. However, many have commented that Carly Fiorina is far too politically aligned with Ted Cruz to make any difference in terms of broadening his appeal. With that in mind, Cruz is still a staggering 15 points behind Donald Trump in Indiana, with Trump widely expected to pick up the state.

Carly Fiorina is, of course, best known for her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, one of the biggest technology manufacturers on the planet. Since leaving her post as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina has made several attempts to embark on a political career, firstly as the Republican candidate to represent California in the United States Senate. Along with her unsuccessful Senate bid, Fiorina was also an adviser to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign before she announced her own bid for the White House last year. It goes without saying that Carly Fiorina’s political attempts have so far been relatively unsuccessful.

Ted Cruz’s vice presidential pick, Carly Fiorina, falling off the stage while campaigning in Indiana is an image that will haunt the Cruz campaign for as long as it manages to survive. Carly Fiorina was introduced as a way to give life to Ted Cruz’s campaign, however, it can’t afford many more gaffes like the one in Indiana.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]