Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announced Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina as his running mate Wednesday afternoon, part of a last-ditch effort to prevent front-runner Donald Trump from clinching the GOP nomination outright.
Cruz called Fiorina an “extraordinary leader” who is “brilliant and capable.”
“She is careful, she is measured, she is serious,” Cruz said at an Indianapolis rally in which he emphasized her business credentials. News of Cruz’s pick leaked earlier in the afternoon Wednesday.
Cruz is banking that his selection could aid his campaign in California, Fiorina’s adopted home state in which she unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2010. Voters hit the polls there on June 7 and 172 delegates are at stake.
Here’s more on Cruz’s move from the Associated Press:
It was an unusual move for a candidate who is far from becoming his party's presumptive nominee, but Cruz is desperate to generate momentum for his struggling campaign. The fiery conservative was soundly defeated by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in all five primaries contests on Tuesday, and he's been mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination before his party's national convention in July.
Some Cruz allies praised the selection of Fiorina, but privately questioned if it would change the trajectory of the race. Trump has won 77 percent of the delegates he needs to claim the nomination, and a win next week in Indiana will keep him on a firm path to do so.
The billionaire's victories in a handful of mid-Atlantic states Tuesday put him within 300 points of winning on the first ballot at the Republican convention.
Ahead of the California contest, the Cruz campaign is focusing heavily on winning Indiana, where voters hit the polls Tuesday. Fifty-seven delegates are at stake in that contest and Cruz officials have made a pact with the John Kasich campaign to back off Oregon and New Mexico in exchange for the Ohio governor standing down in the Hoosier State.
Fiorina sought the GOP presidential nod earlier this cycle but dropped out in February. She generated some momentum after a strong performance at an early debate but ultimately failed to build a strong following in the lead-up to the Iowa and New Hampshire contests.
She did receive 1,146 votes in Georgia's primary, according to the secretary of state's office.
She endorsed Cruz last month ahead of the Florida primary.
Check out our recent Fiorina stories:
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