Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a 2016 presidential hopeful, says GOP leaders want to divide conservative primary voters so that a moderate candidate will end up being the party’s nominee.
“The last thing the Republican leaders in Washington want to see is millions of Americans across the country mobilizing and coalescing around one strong conservative candidate,” he told a crowd of 200 supporters in Iowa on Saturday, according to the Sioux City Journal.
{mosads}Senior Republicans want the party’s various factions at each other’s throats so “once again, they run right up the middle with 24 percent and nominate an establishment moderate who loses the election to Hillary Clinton,” Cruz added.
“Here’s what the Washington cartel wants — they want us divided,” he told voters in the state that holds of the first contests in the nominating process.
“They will do everything possible to fragment us and pit us against each other because if we come together, it’s game over,” he added. “The cartel only knows one thing — how to extort power and money to get what it wants, and if I were elected president, it will stop.”
A Fox News poll released earlier this week found Cruz near tail end of support among the crowded Republican White House field.
The Texas lawmaker garnered just 4 percent support, well behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who led at 15 percent, and real estate mogul Donald Trump, in second place with 11 percent.