Trump taps ex-Cruz supporter as spokeswoman

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has signed former Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) supporter and Tea Party activist Katrina Pierson as his new national spokeswoman, the campaign announced Monday afternoon.

“Katrina is a great addition to our team as we continue to expand throughout the country,” Trump said in a statement about the Dallas/Fort Worth-area Tea Party activist. 

“Katrina understands the need for real change in Washington, D.C. and the importance of competence in the next election.”

{mosads}Pierson had been a vocal supporter of Cruz’s 2012 Senate bid, and he and his father returned the favor during her long-shot House bid in 2014 to unseat Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas). 

Cruz stopped short of delivering a full endorsement in Pierson’s bid to take down his Texas colleague, but heaped praise on her at a local event. His father Rafael Cruz, though, explicitly endorsed her. She also received the backing of 2008 Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, but Pierson eventually lost to Sessions by a margin of 28 points in the Republican primary.

There’s only been sporadic polling of Texas during the GOP primary, but candidates are looking to snag the state’s more than 150 primary delegates.

Cruz has led the lion’s share of the polling through June, according to a RealClearPolitics aggregation. Trump took the lead during a September poll, but Carson held a tight lead in an October poll.