Ted Cruz isn't backing off 'God talk,' even in New Hampshire
| Washington, N.H.
Ted Cruz has got religion, and he鈥檚 not shy about it.
In every stump speech, the freshman senator asks voters to pray. He quotes from Scripture, and speaks of Judeo-海角大神 values. He talks about persecuted 海角大神s in the Middle East. And he tells the story of his father, Rafael Cruz, a Cuban refugee and evangelical preacher who is a regular on the presidential campaign trail.
Senator Cruz, a Southern Baptist from Texas, may seem out of place in the snows of New Hampshire, the in the country. But he is unabashed.
鈥淟ift this country up in prayer,鈥� Cruz tells the crowd gathered in a hilltop lodge in Washington, N.H., speaking in the cadence of a preacher. 鈥淪ay, 鈥楩ather God, please continue this. Continue this revival across this country, that we can pull back from this abyss.鈥� 鈥�
In the past, a candidate like Cruz might have held back on the religious rhetoric in an effort to widen his appeal in New Hampshire鈥檚 first-in-the-nation primary. But times have changed. Campaign messaging has become a national enterprise, with the growth of the Internet and cable television.
While many candidates are talking about their faith openly on the campaign trail, Cruz is going furthest, and his respectable showing in New Hampshire polls suggests that his style can win converts even among those who don鈥檛 share his religious fervor.
鈥淗e was still talking to Iowa caucus-goers while he was campaigning in New Hampshire,鈥� says Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. 鈥淭here was a time when candidates could run one set of ads in Iowa, and no one in New Hampshire would see them. Now you tune in to MSNBC, and you see what they鈥檙e saying in West Des Moines [Iowa], and folks in Iowa see what they鈥檙e saying in Hanover [N.H.]鈥�
Victory in Iowa, home to the kickoff Feb. 1 caucuses, is almost essential for Cruz to have a shot at the Republican nomination. With less than two weeks to go, he and national front-runner Donald Trump are locked in a dead heat there.
In New Hampshire, Cruz faces much lower expectations, but he has to make a decent showing, to keep the momentum going. By doing a multiday bus tour through the Granite State, his first extensive visit here in two months, Cruz keeps his supporters and volunteers energized.
And his faith-toned message has not made him an also-ran here. He鈥檚 currently in a statistical dead-heat for third with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, polling at 11.3 percent according to the .
Faith in the campaign
He is not the only Republican candidate to carry his faith outside evangelical Iowa and the South.
Senator Rubio has also been wooing religious voters aggressively. The senator, who is Roman Catholic but also attends a Southern Baptist church, recently released all about faith that struck political observers as unusually pointed. In the past, successful GOP candidates 鈥� including Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush 鈥� have tended to be more circumspect in public about their religious beliefs.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a devout Episcopalian, is another candidate who makes faith references a regular part of his pitch. But his appeal in New Hampshire, where he is now polling in second place, is seen as centered on his pragmatic approach to governing 鈥� including expansion of Medicaid in his home state under the Affordable Care Act.
Then there鈥檚 Mr. Trump, a mainstream Presbyterian whose strength among Evangelicals nationally has baffled some observers, given his three marriages, profane language, and seemingly .
But just as 鈥淕od talk鈥� doesn鈥檛 always turn off non-churchgoers, it is not the only way to win the faithful, either. Many Trump supporters, including the religious, value his business success, forceful personality, and status as a nonpolitician above all else. Some say God will guide him to be a successful president.
The conservative Evangelical vote, for example, is currently divided into three camps: Cruz, Trump, and Rubio, according to Thomas Kidd, a history professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
鈥淐ruz represents the 鈥楯erry Falwell鈥� wing (referencing the late head of the Moral Majority), Trump the 鈥楯immy Swaggart鈥� wing (referencing the once-popular 鈥渉ealth and wealth鈥� televangelist), and Rubio the 鈥楤illy Graham鈥� wing,鈥� in The Washington Post. Kidd notes that he is a member of Rubio鈥檚 newly announced 鈥渞eligious freedom advisory board.鈥�
But Cruz鈥檚 faith message is seen as key to his appeal. That message has been reinforced by a Cruz super-political action committee that just launched .
To some observers, like , Cruz鈥檚 apocalyptic rhetoric seems out of joint with 海角大神 traditions, offering no hint of 鈥渃ompassion, gentleness, and mercy.鈥�
鈥淚n a GOP primary that has become a contest to see who could be the most anti-immigrant, a little compassion for the stranger is in order,鈥� Kidd added.
But he said he sees no reason to question the sincerity of Cruz鈥檚 faith.
'May I call you brother?'
Indeed, to many voters, Cruz鈥檚 message fits the times, given the threat of Islamic State, a dysfunctional immigration system, and economic uncertainty. Over and over, at his events in New Hampshire this week, voters said they liked his assertive, no-compromise style 鈥� and were not put off by his religion-filled appeals.
鈥淗e鈥檚 the strongest conservative, and he knows how to articulate that,鈥� says David, an electrician from Derry, N.H., who declined to give his last name. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not intimidated.鈥�
Mary Sprenkle, a retired defense contractor worker from Stoddard, N.H., says she鈥檚 leaning toward Cruz, because 鈥渉e鈥檚 the most conservative in the race and a strong supporter of the Constitution.鈥�
Gun rights are important to her 鈥� and to many in New Hampshire, a rural hunting state with a strong libertarian streak.
For attendees at his events, Cruz鈥檚 talk about God is also an invitation to open up about matters of faith 鈥� the Yankee tendency toward reserve notwithstanding.
鈥淢ay I call you brother?鈥� asks a man named Phil, in prefacing his question to Cruz about how he would select a running mate. 鈥淚 believe you鈥檙e saved, and have accepted Jesus as your savior.鈥�
鈥淭hank you, brother,鈥� Cruz replies. 鈥淒on鈥檛 be embarrassed about your faith.鈥�
Another questioner asks Cruz about restoring the Ten Commandments to public schools. That gives Cruz an opening to talk about his 2005 victory in the United States Supreme Court, as solicitor general of Texas, that allowed a monument with the Ten Commandments to remain on government property outside the state capitol.
And if Hillary Clinton wins the election, Cruz warns, the nation will wind up with a 鈥渇ive-justice radical leftist majority鈥� on the Supreme Court. 鈥淲e are inches away from chisels coming out to take off the crosses and Stars of David on the tombstones of our soldiers," he adds. 聽
After the event in the lodge, voters line up to talk to Cruz. One woman, Mandy Pe帽a from Walpole, N.H., stands with five of her nine children, and describes herself as a 海角大神. 鈥淚鈥檝e been with Cruz pretty much from the beginning, because he鈥檚 a constitutionalist,鈥� she says.
At the end of the line stands a man clutching a Bible and wearing a Cruz sticker. Why Cruz? he is asked.
鈥淗e鈥檚 not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ,鈥� says George Barbour, pastor at Berean Baptist Church in Newport, N.H., and a pilot for Delta Airlines. 鈥淲ithout values, we have nothing to stand on.鈥�
After chatting with the senator, Pastor Barbour shows a reporter his Bible 鈥� freshly signed, on an inside page, by Cruz.
