Carly Fiorina Endorses Ted Cruz

Former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina endorsed Ted Cruz at an event in Miami Wednesday.

“Ted Cruz has always been a constitutional conservative,” Fiorina said to the crowd at Cruz’s Florida rally. “He is a fearless fighter and reformer and he didn’t much care whether he got invited to the cocktail parties in D.C… He has fought for our liberties over and over again.”

The former CEO of Hewlett-Packard said she voted for Cruz in her home state Virginia’s primary, which Donald Trump ended up winning. “I saw my own name on the ballot and that was kind of a thrill, but then I checked the box for Ted Cruz,” she said. Fiorina ended her own presidential campaign in February right after the New Hampshire primary.

Fiorina played into the narrative that Cruz is not well-liked among his Senate colleagues, and spun it as a positive attribute. “You must challenge the status quo,” she said. “And when you challenge the status quo, you do more than ruffle feathers, you make enemies… Ted Cruz should be known, is proud to be known, by the enemies he has made in the D.C. cartel.”

Fiorina also told the crowd that she is “horrified” by Trump, and that Cruz is the candidate who can beat him. “Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin,” Fiorina said. “They’re not going to reform the system, they are the system… We’re going to have to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box, and the only guy to beat Donald Trump is Ted Cruz.”

“Carly Fiorina is a strong, principled leader and woman of faith,” Cruz said in a statement. “Our campaign is stronger with her leadership and her voice.”

Fiorina joins a group of other former presidential contenders who have endorsed after they ended their own campaigns. Most recently, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie endorsed Trump, a move that was met with a torrent of criticism. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry also endorsed Cruz, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum both threw their weight behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.