As the possibility of a government shutdown over defunding Planned Parenthood looms this week, Polk County GOP Women took their concerns about the issue to a meeting with Heidi Cruz, the wife of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. The group of 15 or so women met with Cruz on Monday morning as part of a series with candidates’ wives, and many of their questions focused on the Texas Senator’s previous link to a government shutdown over Obamacare and if he will fight Washington Republicans again over funding for Planned Parenthood.
“Ted did not shut down the government over Obamacare,” said Cruz. “Harry Reid shut down the government. Ted was elected by 27 million Texans to repeal Obamacare, and if there’s one thing about Ted, he is a man of his word.”
A few of the women mentioned that members of their family had reservations about Cruz because of his bullish attitude toward Senate Republicans. Heidi Cruz refuted that characterization of her husband and called out fellow GOP’ers lack of follow through in the fight to defund Planned Parenthood.
“Republicans are trying to be so clever by looking three plays down the line and saying we’re going to lose at point four so let’s not even try,” said Cruz. “Ted’s like, ‘Let’s fight every single way because by fighting steps one, two, and three, we could gain some momentum.’ And even if we can’t win, let the Democrats shut it down.”
Unlike the group’s previous candidate wife speaker, Kelley Paul, Heidi Cruz talked poignantly with the Polk County women about her husband’s record, his strong character traits, and his strategy to not engage in “the bickering” on the national stage. Cruz pointed to the last week’s national Republican debate, in which many experts have said Ted Cruz did not perform as well as he does while on the campaign trail.
“Ted’s not going to cut off other people, he’s not going to engage in pinning another candidate against each other,” said Cruz. “He’s just going to sit back and let them fight it out on stage. But you’ll notice, when it was his turn to speak, Ted put out the facts. He needed to be a statesman in that debate. He’s does need to get in there a little bit more in the next debate, but for now, we’re focused on the next step.”
Heidi Cruz is the third candidate wife to meet with the group of women – Kelley Paul and Janet Huckabee have also visited with the group. Gloria Mazza with Polk County GOP said she is working on getting Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter, to come meet with the group of voters.
