President Donald Trump praised Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s debate performance after going up against his Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke Tuesday evening, in a Wednesday morning tweet.
“Watched the debate last night & Beto O’Rourke, who wants higher taxes and far more regulations, is not in the same league with Ted Cruz & what the great people of Texas stand for & want,” Trump tweeted. “Ted is strong on Crime, Border & 2nd A, loves our Military, Vets, Low Taxes. Beto is a Flake!”
Watched the debate last night & Beto O’Rourke, who wants higher taxes and far more regulations, is not in the same league with Ted Cruz & what the great people of Texas stand for & want. Ted is strong on Crime, Border & 2nd A, loves our Military, Vets, Low Taxes. Beto is a Flake!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2018
Ted Cruz has done so much for Texas, including massive cuts in taxes and regulations – which has brought Texas to the best jobs numbers in the history of the state. He watches carefully over your 2nd Amendment. O’Rourke would blow it all! Ted has long had my Strong Endorsement!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2018
“Ted Cruz has done so much for Texas, including massive cuts in taxes and regulations – which has brought Texas to the best jobs numbers in the history of the state,” Trump continued. “He watches carefully over your 2nd Amendment. O’Rourke would blow it all! Ted has long had my Strong Endorsement!”
Trump has been a vocal supporter of his one-time Republican primary opponent and will be traveling to Texas early next week to campaign for Cruz. O’Rourke has mounted an upstart candidacy against Cruz in the traditionally Republican state bringing in major campaign donations.
U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, faces U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, in debate at the KENS 5 TV studios in San Antonio, Texas, October 16, 2018. Tom Reel/San Antonio Express-News/Pool via REUTERS
The Texas congressman set a Senate race fundraising record earlier this week revealing that he raised nearly 40 million dollars in his last quarter. The aspiring Democratic candidate has also seen a litany of fawning profiles about him in the nation’s premier publications despite lagging performance in the polls.
O’Rourke, however, is currently lagging behind Cruz by nearly 7 points in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average. Data website Fivethirtyeight similarly gives Cruz a 78-percent chance of winning his race with a forecasted vote share for Cruz of 51.8 percent of the vote vs 46.6 percent for O’Rourke.