Cruz: Trump ‘enormously beneficial’ for my campaign

by Bradford Richardson - 10/24/15 3:58 PM ET

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been enormously helpful to his own.

“If you look at this Republican primary, I’m actually very grateful that Donald Trump has been in this race, because I think his campaign has been enormously beneficial to our campaign,” Cruz said at the Iowa Candidate Assessment Summit on Saturday.

{mosads}“Why is that? Because it has framed the central question of this primary as ‘Who will stand up to Washington?’ ” Cruz continued. “Now, if that’s the case, the natural next question is ‘OK, who actually has stood up to Washington?’ ”

Cruz touted his record as an anti-Washington firebrand in the speech.

He described the fight he led in Congress to tie Planned Parenthood’s federal funding to a government-spending bill as “epic.”

“About three weeks ago, we had an epic, drag-down fight in Washington. Millions of Americans rose up against Planned Parenthood,” Cruz said.

“I was proud to lead that fight against Planned Parenthood once again,” he added.

The Texan also said he was “proud” to lead the fight to defund Obamacare in 2013, which resulted in a weeks-long government shutdown.

Cruz said other candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination have been absent from those major battles: “Not a one of them was anywhere to be found leading that fight.”

Tags Donald Trump Ted Cruz