PELHAM, Ala. — Texas Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz made multiple stops in the Yellowhammer State Sunday, giving talks to over-capacity events in both Pelham and Huntsville.
Cruz deftly mixed his message with humor to the large crowds.
“Now the Democratic field consists of a wild-eyed socialist, with ideas that are endangering America’s place in the world, and Bernie Sanders,” he quipped.
The meat of the senator’s speech consisted of listing the first five things he would do on day one of his presidency. Number one on his list was rolling back the executive overreach he believes has taken place under the Obama Administration.
“The first thing I intend to do is rescind every illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by Barack Obama,” Cruz explained, garnering applause from the audience. “And that’s why we’re going to win. You know, the President is fond of saying he has a phone and he has a pen. Well, you live by the pen, you die by the pen.”
He followed up by promising to instruct the Justice Department to investigate Planned Parenthood, to order the end of the prosecution of those exercising their First Amendment religious liberty, to tear up President Obama’s Iran deal, and to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to the Capital of Jerusalem.
When taking questions, Cruz addressed Alabamians who were most concerned with the negative impacts of ObamaCare and the EPA.
Specifically weighing in on the President’s new “Waters of the United States” rule, the Senator quoted one of his favorite movies, The Princess Bride, saying “the President keeps using the word ‘navigable.’ You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Cruz went off-script to discuss his personal family history and how, in the right conditions, anyone can achieve the American Dream. His father fled Cuba after persecution during the revolution and got a job in Texas washing dishes for 10 cents an hour. He worked his way up to become a successful businessman and is now an evangelical preacher who travels the country.
“My father always told me ‘When we faced oppression in Cuba, I had a place to flee to. If we lose our freedom here, where do we go?'” he said.
The Texan said he is counting on grassroots mobilization to win the nomination.
“I don’t see a lot of candidates who I think can mobilize and energize and inspire and bring back millions of conservatives – the evangelical Christians, the Reagan Democrats, the young people that we’ve got to bring back to win,” he said. “And the reason we decided to run is, I believe, I’m in the best position to energize and mobilize and bring back to the polls those millions of conservatives and to rebuild that Reagan Coalition, to bring together conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians and young people and Hispanics and women and Reagan Democrats.”
Trey Edwards, an Alabama political consultant who attended the Huntsville event, said he was surprised at the high number of young families who came out to see Sen. Cruz speak.
“Age demographics seemed to be slanted towards the under 35 crowd,” Edwards told Yellowhammer. “Lots of teenagers and young parents with small kids too. I’m excited to see how much interest there is in this election cycle, and the fact that there seems to no longer be any barrier between the GOP and young people”
The official attendance estimate for the Pelham Civic Center crowd is between 850 and 900 people and Huntsville’s is between 1400 and 1500.
Many believe the increased attention to Alabama has been created by the “SEC Primary.” Cruz himself addressed the primary as one reason why he decided to come talk to voters.
The Yellowhammer State will join Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to hold its presidential primary election on March 1st. Electoral heavy hitter Florida will also have its primary in March, waiting until two weeks after its neighbors for March 15th.
The new setup, championed by Alabama’s Secretary of State John Merrill, is an effort to maneuver Alabama into a place of greater relevance in the nominating process; a move that seems to be working.
In most presidential election years through the 2004 cycle, Alabama held its presidential primaries in June, often long after voters in other states had essentially decided the outcome of the races. Now, with the new March 1st date, many in Alabama hope that their voices will have a greater impact in who represents the parties in November.
Cruz will return to Alabama for the Tuscaloosa GOP’s annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner on Tuesday, August 25. The event has become one of Alabama’s most widely-attended political events in recent years, attracting nationally-known speakers including top George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
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