National Organization for Marriage Endorses Ted Cruz
Calling Sen. Ted Cruz "a proven champion," the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) endorsed Ted Cruz for president and promised to do everything possible to make his election possible.
"Sen. Ted Cruz is a proven champion for marriage and religious freedom and someone we can absolutely count on to fight to restore marriage to our nation's laws and defend the religious liberty of the tens of millions of Americans who believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman," said Brian Brown, NOM's president in a Wednesday press release.
Brown praised Cruz for signing the organization's presidential marriage pledge commitment and for authoring the federal marriage amendment which would give states the right to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
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The pledge also protects the rights of Americans to speak out in defense of traditional marriage and to utilize the Justice Department to investigate those who are being "harassed or threatened" for their views on marriage, and to offer additional legal protections where needed.
Brown added that Cruz has been "forcefully" advocating for a "true marriage" on the campaign trail.
According to the National Organization for Marriage, the pledge was signed by Cruz, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Rick Santorum and former presidential candidate Gov. Bobby Jindal.
"While not signing NOM's pledge, Gov. Mike Huckabee issued his own pledge to the American people to fight for marriage, and Sen. Marco Rubio has spoken out powerfully in his campaign in support on marriage," declared NOM in a press release.
Brown called the decision to endorse in the primary "difficult" and added that the organization would support Santorum, Huckabee, Rubio, or Carson if they secured the nomination. They offered praise to Cruz for declaring him the best candidate to unite conservatives in 2016.
"Beginning in Iowa, and going on from there, we will do everything in our power to support Sen. Cruz and urge all our supporters to coalesce around his candidacy," Brown declared.
"It is imperative that a proven marriage champion emerge from Iowa and go on to capture the Republican nomination. Too much is on the line for supporters of marriage to sit on the sidelines and take the risk that the Republican nominee is someone who will not fight to restore marriage to the law in our nation. We are at a historic moment, and we urge all conservatives to unite behind Sen. Ted Cruz, a man of principle we can all count on to give his all to the cause of marriage and religious freedom."
While most Iowa polls show Cruz tied for second place behind Donald Trump, a new Monmouth University poll has Cruz as the frontrunner in Iowa. The poll shows many Evangelicals coalescing around the Texas Senator. Evangelicals are half of GOP caucus voters in Iowa and 30 percent support Cruz according to Monmouth.
