Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has not made any endorsements in incumbent primaries yet this cycle, and his office says he does not plan to. But according to Katrina Pierson, a tea party activist who is “primarying” Texas Republican Congressman Pete Sessions, the Texas Senator has endorsed her, whether he knows it or not.
Pierson, an African-American tea party activist who supported and campaigned for Cruz in his 2012 Senate race, has been endorsed by one Cruz: Pastor Rafael Cruz, the Senator’s father. And though it has not been formally broadcast, Pierson believes the younger Cruz shares his father’s sentiments.
“He’s made it known that he is supportive of me,” Pierson said of Sen. Cruz in a phone interview with The Daily Caller on Friday, though she said they had not specifically discussed an endorsement.
A formal endorsement, she said, was unnecessary.
“At this point, most of the people here in Texas, they know my relationship with the Senator and his family, and I was on the frontlines of his campaign,” she said. “We don’t have to have the endorsement for people to know that the senator is supportive of me in this campaign – it’s just namely for people outside, they want some sort of formal endorsement to see if he supports me or not.”
“We don’t need that here because we know,” she said.
The Senator has certainly said nice things about her.
“Katrina Pierson is an utterly fearless principled conservative,” Cruz said during his remarks at a tea party event last month, the Dallas Morning News reported, making no mention of Sessions.
“I think the real story here is what he hasn’t said about my opponent,” Pierson told TheDC.
But formally, Cruz has made a point of not making an endorsement, and has said he likely has no intention to do so.
“The senator has not made an endorsement in this race, and is likely to stay out of incumbent primary races,” said Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier.
Cruz’s father campaigned extensively for his son during the Senate race, and the two have appeared at a number of events together. Cruz has spoken many times at length about how integral to his life and philosophy his dad has been, so it would not be that far of a leap to suspect they might be on the same page here.
On the other hand, the Senator’s camp has in the past put up barriers between the younger Cruz and his father; for instance, when Mother Jones posted a video of the elder Cruz talking about sending President Barack Obama “back to Kenya.”
“Pastor Cruz does not speak for the senator,” Cruz’s communications director, Sean Rushton, told Mother Jones at the time.
Pierson wants to follow the model of Cruz’s Senate campaign, taking on an establishment figure with the power of the grassroots, but she acknowledged that taking on an incumbent made her battle much harder. She certainly appears to be struggling on the money front: according to year-end reports, Pierson has raised just $76,187, and has just over $50,000 in the bank. The Sessions campaign, on the other hand, has over $1.3 million.
The Sessions campaign dismissed Pierson’s assertions as false.
“To date, Senator Cruz has remained neutral in this race and not endorsed either candidate. Any claim otherwise, like those made by Ms. Pierson, is not dealing with the facts,” said Bruce Harvie, a spokesman for Sessions’ campaign.