Republican candidate Ted Cruz brought his presidential campaign to Michigan and Kalamazoo today.
Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, was greeted enthusiastically.
“We need to bring the power out of Washington and back to ‘we the people!” That is what this campaign is about!” Cruz told the cheering crowd of several hundred people.
Cruz said he would stop the Common Core school curriculum, push for a flat-rate income tax, and refuse to accept Syrian refugees. That puts him at odds with Governor Rick Snyder, who says Michigan and the U.S. should welcome refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East.
It was a message that resonated with Sherry Klooster of Kalamazoo.
I love how he stands up for the Constitution and he interprets it like no one else does, I think,” Klooster said. “He separates it all in a way that I love, and can understand.”
Many of the people who showed for the rally were from the tea party wing of the Republican Party. They said like how Cruz riles the establishment.
Cruz says his path to winning the presidency relies on re-building the coalition that elected Ronald Reagan in 1980 – including the so-called “Reagan Democrats.”
“And by the way, it started right here in Michigan with the Reagan Democrats – birthplace of the Reagan Democrats, working men and women who said, ‘This ain’t working, and we want to get back to the principles that built America,” Cruz said.
Michigan’s presidential primary is March 8.
