Rick Perry, the former Texas governor and two-time presidential hopeful, has endorsed Ted Cruz for his bid for the White House. Perry, who - for a short period of time - had thrown his hat in the 2016 ring before dropping out in September, said that Cruz is the "most consistent conservative" remaining in the Republican field.
"Of those individuals who have a chance to win the Republican primary, at this juncture, from my perspective, Ted Cruz is by far the most consistent conservative in that crowd," Perry told Politico. "And that appears to be down to two people," referring to Cruz and Donald Trump.
The endorsement comes just ahead of the Iowa caucuses, where Cruz has lost ground to Trump, according to an average of recent polling compiled by RealClear Politics, in which Trump leads Cruz by more than five percent.
Perry said that Cruz should get the nomination because of his principled stance of not backing down to "the Washington establishment."
"You'll have with Ted Cruz that same result of, senators and others in the Washington establishment that are mad at him, find him to be hard to work with, they will find a way to work with him because they know he means what he says he means," he said.
Perry indicated he was a Cruz supporter last month during an interview with Iowa radio, praising the Texas senator's discipline and leadership skills following a debate performance. "I think that's where the Ted Cruzes of the world are going to step forward and we're gonna see a leader with a real plan," Perry said, according to BuzzFeed. "So with those individuals that are still on that stage, I thought Sen. Cruz was very wily."
He added: "Consistency of your positions . . . that's one of the things I will say in Senator Cruz's defense, that he has been a very, very consistent individual, day in and day out. He's very disciplined."
