Ted Cruz tapped Carly Fiorina as his running mate in a “major announcement” at his April 27 rally. The announcement, which can be seen above, came at an Indianapolis school just days before the state’s primary.
Cruz opened the rally with the line, “Elections are about choices.” He described the choice for voters as between the “Washington establishment” and his own candidacy, and then his own choice for Vice President. He described his search for a candidate with appropriate knowledge, judgment, wisdom, and character, making thinly veiled slights at GOP rival Donald Trump, before announcing to widespread applause his selection of Carly Fiorina. Cruz described Fiorina’s qualifications: her business record, her enthusiasm for the Cruz campaign following her March endorsement, her standing up to Trump, and her striving through personal tribulation before ceding the floor to her.
Fiorina took the time to praise Cruz and his family, even breaking into song for one notable moment, then launched into an impassioned case for Cruz. She described how he accurately characterized the election as a fight for the “soul of the party” and the “future of the nation.” Fiorina praised Cruz’s intelligence, his standing as a family man, and his consistency in defending conservative principles. She acknowledged the very tough results of the previous night but stated that the fight must go on, calling Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton two sides of the same coin, the latter a seller of her influence and the former a buyer of “people like her.”
Fiorina and Cruz have worked together throughout the campaign, with a Cruz Super PAC donating to Fiorina early in the campaign cycle and Fiorina joining Cruz on the campaign trail starting in March. Cruz admitted that Fiorina was on his short list for the slot in late April.
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