In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Ted Cruz says the marriage issue should be left up to the states and says he’s been consistent on his position despite the criticism he’s getting on the issue for other presidential candidates. Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and some outside political groups questioned his recent comments at a closed-door fundraiser in New York when he told a pro-gay marriage supporter that he would not make fighting gay marriage a top three priority. They believe he’s singing one tune in New York and another in Iowa. Watch his answer below. Our interview with Cruz took place Monday night in Des Moines Iowa. The Brody File crew was allowed exclusive access inside Cruz’s private meeting with Iowa pastors in both Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. This interview was conducted between events.
Both Trump and Cruz want to win Iowa but for Cruz it’s more imperative based on the large evangelical voting constituency. His campaign has more than a solid ground game, employing a robust micro-targeting strategy as well as having pastors all over the state organized on caucus night to get their congregants out to vote. He’ll need every single one of them to pull it out because Trump is a force in American politics.
MANDATORY COURTESY: CBN NEWS/THE BRODY FILE
Ted Cruz: “Well this is one of the more ridiculous attacks that has been launched and frankly there’s a radio ad that takes a segment of an audio file and edits it sharply. You can actually hear it kind of screech to a halt because they don’t want to actually give the answer I gave. This was at a gathering where I was asked about my position on gay marriage. The question was, ‘is stopping gay marriage a top three priority,’ and I said no, my priorities are defending the constitution, and if you asked me in Iowa, or New York, or anywhere else what are my priorities I list them as three fold: Number one bringing back jobs and growth and opportunity; number two defending our constitutional rights and number three restoring America’s leadership in the world. I’ve said that to you probably dozens of times, I’ve said that on television hundreds of times, and I’ve said that to Iowa and across the country thousands of times. Now, what I go on to say to the individual who was asking me about gay marriage is I say under the constitution marriage is a question for the states, and the Supreme Court decision to set aside the marriage laws was wrong, and defending religious liberty has been a passion of mine for decades and I’ve got a proven record fighting to defend religious liberty”
Ted Cruz: “If we’re going to win the gay marriage argument, if we’re going to move peoples hearts and minds we’ve got to do it by vindicating the constitution, bringing the power to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, back to the state legislatures.”