Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign is doubling down on his strike at Donald Trump’s “New York values,” with his spokeswoman suggesting the country must not turn out like liberal Manhattan.
Asked about the Texas senator’s New York-based donors, Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier responded more broadly in an email.
{mosads}”The question is, do we want our future leadership to look like that of New York City’s?” she said.
“Where the government mandates how much soda you can drink, where it is illegal to protect yourself with a firearm, and where its elected officials say that people who value unborn life aren’t welcome?”
“Or do we want our next president to embrace the values that get government our of the way, that reward hard work, that champion faith, family, and individual liberties?” Frazier continued.
“There is no doubt that America wants more of the latter.”
The New York soda ban — favored by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg — was rejected in the state’s highest court, though current Mayor Bill de Blasio is reportedly looking for ways to introduce regulations of sugary drinks.
But the Cruz attack goes beyond policies to a strike at the philosophy of a city the senator says alienates the social conservatives he is trying to woo in Iowa and through the south.
“It is Donald Trump who first said that his New York values are different from Iowa’s,” Frazier said. “That is what this is about — the values and principles that guide the candidates’ positions and form their policies.”