Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who left the US presidential race after the South Carolina primary, has endorsed Ted Cruz to contest the presidential election for the Republican Party.
Mr Bush is the most prominent member of the Republican establishment to support the Texas senator as he tries to slow businessman Donald Trump’s momentum to win the nomination.
The endorsement came as aides to Mr Cruz, who is unpopular with much of the Republican leadership and many of his Senate colleagues, have been courting high-profile supporters to bolster his candidacy.
The Cruz campaign has also sought support from Marco Rubio of Florida, who dropped out of the race after losing his home state to Mr Trump on March 15th.
In a statement, Mr Bush called Mr Cruz a “consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests.”
"For the sake of our party and country, we must move to overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena, or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee and reverse President Obama's failed policies," he said.
Narrow field
Republicans have been slow to get behind Mr Cruz, even as the field has narrowed, but some former critics, such as Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have recently turned to him as a last resort.
After dropping out of the race,Mr Bush met his former opponents, except for Mr Trump, but has until now declined to back anyone. The continued presence of Governor John R. Kasich of Ohio in the race has remained a problem for Mr Cruz's efforts to consolidate the anti-Trump vote. Mr Kasich has won only his home state, but it is a general election battleground, and he has vowed to fight on.
With his endorsement of Mr Cruz, Mr Bush, the son of former president George H.W. Bush and brother of George W. Bush, is sending two messages to voters: Reject Trump, and do not keep Mr Kasich’s candidacy alive.
“To win, Republicans need to make this election about proposing solutions to the many challenges we face, and I believe that we should vote for Ted as he will do just that,” Jeb Bush said.
New York Times