Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) have announced they voted for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump in early voting. However, neither one said Trump’s name:
“I stand where I’ve stood all fall and all summer,” the Wisconsin Republican said on “Fox & Friends.” “In fact, I already voted here in Janesville for our nominee last week in early voting.”
When the hosts asked Ryan if he wanted to encourage other Republicans to support Trump, he only answered from his point of view:
“I’m supporting our entire Republican ticket. I have been all along. My focus personally right now is saving our House majority.”
Ryan also stated that he will not campaign with Trump in Wisconsin with Gov. Scott Walker. Instead, he will continue to focus on saving the GOP majority in the House, “making sure Minority Leader ‘Nancy Pelosi doesn’t return as speaker of the House.'”
Ryan will make stops on the campaign trail for a few of the vulnerable House members:
“I am on my way right now to Indiana with one of our members running there. Then I’m going to Michigan, then I’m going to New York, then Virginia. I’m just crisscrossing the country right now fighting for congressional Republicans, which is my primary responsibility right now,” he said. “I have a schedule that has been long in place.”
The GOP currently holds 246 seats in the House to the Democrats at 186. This means the Democrats must flip 30 seats to retake the majority, which is not an easy task. However, even if they do not win all 30 seats, the Democrats can still take a chunk, thus, weakening the GOP’s stance.
Ryan reiterated his position that Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton must not win:
“The point I keep trying to make to younger voters who did not live through the 1990s is that this is what life with the Clintons looks like: It’s always a scandal, one after another. Then there is an investigation,” he said. “They live beyond the rules, and they live to work the system to help themselves, to help Clinton Inc.”“They can win, and she could come in with a Democrat Congress — the worse of all possible things — if Republicans don’t turn out to vote,” Ryan continued. And if she does, “she will come with all her scandal baggage, and I don’t think that’s what the American people want to see.”
Trump has had a stormy relationship with Ryan, which capped off after The Washington Post released audio of Trump bragging about the ability to touch females because of his star power. Ryan said he would stop campaigning and publicly supporting Trump, causing the nominee to call the speaker a weak leader.
Cruz has also had an up-and-down relationship with Trump and the party, especially after he refused to endorse Trump at the Republican National Convention. But that all changed in September when he endorsed Trump in a Facebook post. KHOU11 caught up with Cruz after he voted:
“I voted straight ticket Republican,” said Cruz. “I encourage conservatives to come out all across Houston, all across the State of Texas.”He also encouraged people to get out and vote.“It’s all about turnout and that’s why need people to come out and vote,” said Cruz. “It’s why I voted early. You beat the lines on election day and you make your voice count.”
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