Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Thursday that he "not remotely" had any regrets for bashing front-runner Donald Trump's "New York values" as he campaigns in the Empire State ahead of its April 19 primary.
"Everyone in New York and outside of New York knows exactly what I meant by that," the Texas senator told Dana Bash on CNN. "It is the liberal values of Democratic politicians who have been hammering the people of New York for decades.
"They've suffered under these liberal values," Cruz said, pointing to such Democrats as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio — even presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.
"Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers that if you're pro-life, if you believe in traditional marriage, if you believe in the Second Amendment, there is no place for you in the state of New York," Cruz said.
The senator has faced a torrent of criticism since arriving in New York Wednesday — from the city's newspapers, protesters as various events, even from Trump himself at a big rally on Long Island — for his "values" comment during the South Carolina debate in January.
"I have never been popular with left-wing journalists or tabloids," he told Bash of the cover in the
New York Daily News that screamed for him to "Take the F U Train" out of the state. "And, frankly, that's not my target audience."
He said that he met Wednesday with African-American and Hispanic pastors in the Bronx — and that he is reaching out to the city's Russian Jewish, Orthodox Jewish and Hasidic Jewish communities.
"We've got tremendous support in the Jewish community, tremendous support especially in the Orthodox community," Cruz told Bash. "I've been privileged to speak at synagogues all over the country — and, in particular, to focus on defending religious liberty, which has been a passion of mine my entire life. And focus on standing with Israel."
Cruz added that he would focus more heavily on upstate New York, which is heavily Republican and more conservative — and he likened those residents to voters in Wisconsin, where he beat Trump decisively on Tuesday.
"I actually think the people of New York, particularly upstate New York, have an awful lot in common with the people of Wisconsin," the senator said. "Very, very similar.
"And what we're seeing happening across the country, what I hope we'll see in New York, is that Republicans will unite."
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