That’s what the Texas senator told Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly before a crowd of about 250 people at Calvary Baptist Church in Raleigh while hundreds more waited outside. The event, originally planned as a campaign rally, resembled a town-hall style interview with Kelly.
Kelly asked Cruz if he would support a contested convention — where delegate votes are no longer dictated by primary results — in order to stop GOP frontrunner Donald Trump from securing the Republican nomination.
Cruz vehemently denounced the idea.
“It would be absolutely catastrophic to have a brokered convention where they try to parachute in some D.C. establishment candidate — you would see an open revolt,” Cruz said.
The Texas senator insisted he would be able to beat Trump through traditional means.
“We intend to beat Donald Trump, but the way to beat Donald Trump is through the ballot box,” he said.
Cruz also levied attacks against Trump during the interview, accusing him of funding the so-called Gang of Eight who wrote the 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill, which granted undocumented people already in the U.S. a path to citizenship.
“When Marco Rubio was standing with Barack Obama and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in pushing the massive Gang of Eight amnesty bill, I stood with millions of Americans and led the fight against amnesty,” Cruz said.
