Ted Cruz To Get Major Endorsement From GOP Senator Mike Lee


According to sources close to the Senator, Ted Cruz is expected to receive a major endorsement from Senator Mike Lee of Utah sometime today. It would be the first endorsement from fellow senator for Ted Cruz, who has something of a reputation for being disliked among his peers in the U.S. Senate. Republican Senator Lindsay Graham famously remarked that Ted Cruz is so disliked among the Senate that he could be murdered on the senate floor and none of his peers would bat an eye.

If Senator Mike Lee endorses Ted Cruz today, it will be a milestone for the Cruz campaign, reports Politico, who trails Donald Trump in the polls but has recently finished a close second in several primary contests — well ahead of the Republican establishment’s favored candidate, Marco Rubio. Mike Lee’s endorsement of Ted Cruz could signal the Republican party’s elite rallying around the Cruz campaign and abandoning Marco Rubio’s campaign.

Mike Lee’s endorsement of Ted Cruz could be the first nail in the coffin for the Marco Rubio campaign. Rubio’s poll numbers and performance in primary contests this month continue to disappoint his establishment allies, who may be abandoning ship in hopes of backing the only other candidate with a chance to beat Trump in the Republican primary.

Ted Cruz has toned down his fiery anti-establishment rhetoric in the last couple weeks, as his campaign looks to the Republican establishment for the support they’ll need to beat Donald Trump for the nomination. The Mike Lee endorsement could go a long way toward that goal.

Senator Mike Lee is, unlike Ted Cruz, very well liked by his colleagues in the senate. He’s got a lot of friends among the Republican establishment, reports Politico, and he’s even close friends with two other presidential candidates: Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

“I’m in an awkward spot because I’m really close to all three of you guys,” Mike Lee reportedly told Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio early last year. “One of the weirdest things that can happen to a person is to have his three favorite co-workers all running for president of the United States at one time.”

The friendly and earnest Senator Mike Lee, appears to have made his choice, though, since Rand Paul dropped out of the race, leaving him to choose between two personal friends: Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Choosing Cruz over Rubio for his formal endorsement will go a long way toward repairing Cruz’s relationship with traditional “establishment” Republicans, both in the Senate and on the campaign trail.

Speculation about Mike Lee’s endorsement of Ted Cruz rose yesterday when Mike Lee missed two key Senate meetings and declined to comment when contacted by Politico and the New York Times.

“Something’s up,” a GOP senator remarked to Politico today.

When paired with Ted Cruz’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last weekend, the one that praised Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s fight against the Obama Administration, it looks more and more like Ted Cruz has something up his sleeve. Further evidence that Ted Cruz is attempting to mend fences among his colleagues in the U.S. Senate, Cruz lavished praise on his competitor Marco Rubio just yesterday.

“Marco is a colleague of mine, a very, very talented leader, an incredible communicator. What does it say about our nation that the sons of two Cuban immigrants who came penniless to this country, would be among the handful still running for president?” Ted Cruz said at a campaign rally on Wednesday.

If Ted Cruz secures an endorsement from Mike Lee, it looks like he might be angling to pick up Marco Rubio as his running mate, and he would certainly benefit from Rubio supporters joining his cause.

[Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

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