Former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz was one of many speakers Wednesday at the party’s national convention. And he was likely the most controversial one after refusing to endorse GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The delegates from Washington state were firmly behind Cruz when they initially arrived in Cleveland, Ohio at the start of this week.
But many, like Jack Bell, are now backing Trump in the interest of party unity. Bell says he was discouraged by the fact that Cruz even went on stage in the first place.
"As a Cruz supporter I would have wanted him to just [have] not gone on," he said. "I was really disappointed. He was my guy coming in ... and he signed a pledge and said he was going to support the nominee, and he went against his word. It doesn't look good on him in the future."
Cruz left the stage Wednesday night as the crowed booed. The line that caused the most trouble for him was, "If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience."
Bell says Cruz's comments were "detrimental" to the efforts of bringing all the states together to back candidate Donald Trump. He says now all eyes will be on the GOP candidate to fix the damage caused by Cruz.
"I think it's really going to lie on Trump's shoulders in his speech. People are looking for him to say he's doing to support the platform, and to say that he's doing to listen to his advisers, and to say that he's going to be a voice of the people," Bell said.
Bell says, personally, he wants to hear more of an issues- and policy-driven speech from Trump.
"A lot of people just don't know how he stands on certain issues. He tends to waffle back and forth. He needs to solidify what his platform is and promise to stick to it," Bell said.
This is part of KPLU's ongoing election series "From the Floor," focused on the Washington delegation at each of the party's national conventions.
