Ted Cruz to campaign in Mobile and Trussville as part of whirlwind tour - 12 rallies in 12 days - 7
By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com
Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, is making two stops in Alabama later this month as part of a marathon tour of SEC Primary and other states holding their contests March 1.
Cruz is scheduled to be in Mobile on Dec. 19, followed by a visit to Trussville 24 hours later on Dec. 20. The surging GOP candidate is calling the blitz the "Take off with Ted" tour, which includes 12 rallies in 12 days in seven states. The tour kicks off in Las Vegas after CNN's Republican debate next week.
Additional details for the Mobile event haven't been confirmed, but Cruz is scheduled to appear at the Trussville Civic Center from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 20, according to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who helped ensure Alabama was among the SEC Primary states.
"Our 'Take Off with Ted' barnstorming of the March 1st states will fortify our national organization and position us to win on Super Tuesday," Rick Tyler, communications director for the Cruz campaign, said in a statement. "We've always believed that the GOP primary calendar gives Cruz an early advantage so we have spent significant time in those states and have built an army of conservative volunteers to get out the vote just like the ones we have unleashed in the first four early states."
Cruz has been a frequent visitor to Alabama since announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination earlier this year. The freshman Texas senator has made previous stops in Tuscaloosa, Huntsville, Birmingham and Pelham while his wife, Heidi Cruz, stopped by the Alabama GOP office in Hoover to register her husband for the March 1 primary and stumped for him in Mobile.
He earlier told AL.com of the importance of the state to his campaign.
"I think primary voters in Alabama, in the South and across the country are looking for a conservative they can trust," Cruz said in an August interview. "They're tired of campaign conservatives who talk a good game on the stump but don't walk the walk. And the reason our campaign is enjoying such tremendous support in Alabama is that I have the strongest conservative record of any candidate running."
Aside from Alabama, Cruz is set to stump in Nevada, Minnesota, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma, according to the campaign.