Surging GOP presidential contender Sen. Ted Cruz doesn't believe front-running rival Donald Trump will wind up being the Republican presidential nominee – and plans to pick up his supporters.
At a town hall event in Clinton, Iowa, on Monday, Huffington Post contributor
Samantha-Jo Roth tweeted out the declaration, as well as Cruz's vow to scoop up supporters as Trump's star falls.
The fiery senator from Texas has made the prediction before, as well as hinting he'd be ready if Trump was sidelined.
"I think, in time, I don't believe Donald is going to be the nominee and I think, in time, the lion's share of his supporters end up with us," the lawmaker said in
early October.
The Hill reports in Iowa, Cruz scolded the media for anticipating "a cage match" between the rivals, noting he's "consistently declined daily invitations" to go after the front-runner.
Still, last week Cruz distanced himself from Trump after comments about a
federal registry of Muslims in America, calling himself "a big fan" of his rival, but not of "government registries of American citizens."
He also took a veiled swipe at Trump earlier this month, telling The Associated Press "tone matters" and that "there are some in the Republican Party whose rhetoric is unhelpful with regard to immigration," The Hill notes.
For Trump's part, he recently told a
Texas radio show Cruz is "a good man," but then claimed he "backs virtually everything that I said."
Cruz has muscled into third place in Iowa, cutting into Carson's lead among Evangelicals in the state, and moving into third place in a national polling average, at 18.3 percent, The Hill reports.
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