Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz hit the West Coast Monday with stops in Irvine and San Diego in time before California’s June primary election.
The Texas senator was welcomed by about 5,000 supporters holding signs with Cruz’s campaign slogan “TrusTed” at the Town and Country as he opened his 25-minute speech with how he would make the U.S. economy thrive.
“The heart of our economy is not Washington DC,” Cruz said. “The heart of our economy is small businesses all across the United States of America. If you want to unleash the economy, you take the boot of the federal government off the back of the necks of small businesses.”
As of Wednesday, Cruz, 45, trails GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in the number of delegates needed to secure the Republican Party’s nomination. Trump has 743 delegates to Cruz’s 545. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to win the Republican nomination.
Cruz’s campaign stop in San Diego comes weeks after Democratic rival Bernie Sanders was welcomed by more than 10,000 supporters at the San Diego Convention Center.
Cruz’s message in creating more jobs was much different than that of his Democratic rival.
“We are going to stop amnesty and secure the borders and end sanctuary cities and end welfare benefits for those here illegally,” he said, drawing chants of “Cruz! Cruz! Cruz!” from the audience.
“And let me tell you what’s going to happen when we do that. We are going to see millions and millions of new high-paying jobs coming back to America. We will see jobs coming back from overseas, back from China, back from Mexico. We are going to see manufacturing jobs coming back to America. We are going to see wages rising again. We are going to see young people with two, three, four, five job offers.”
Cruz has received the endorsement of fellow Republican and Chula Vista Councilman John McCann. Chula Vista Councilman Steve Miesen, also a Republican, attended the Cruz rally, although he said he was undecided who he wanted to win the Republican ticket.
Chula Vista resident and small business owner Alex Galicia,48, said he supports Cruz because he is the only candidate that backs small businesses.
“He represents an economic policy that I think would be most favorable to small business,” he said. “Being in small business obviously I’ve become familiar with challenges I’ve never used to think about and I think Cruz can protect small businesses.”
Galicia, once a registered Democrat and now a Republican, owns BPI Plumbing in Chula Vista. He said he is worried that Democratic laws have made it more difficult for small business owners to succeed. Galicia is also a reservist in the National Guard.
Cruz’s rally wasn’t without protestors, some even questioning his eligibility to become president because he was born in Canada.
“I’m protesting because I think Cruz is not eligible to be president because the constitution requires the president to be a naturalized citizen,” said Roger Ogden of Bankers Hill. He was born in Canada with a foreign father.”
