Cruz on Haley backing Trump: 'I understand that journey'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says he relates to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who said this week she’ll vote for former President Trump over President Biden in November. 

"I understand that journey, I was in that position," Cruz said during an appearance Wednesday evening on CNN. "Now, she didn't win any states, but she was the last person standing. I understand and she was in a hard-fought primary, I have been in that spot."

Haley, seen as one of Trump's main contenders for the GOP nomination in 2024 before suspending her campaign in early March, said during an event earlier Wednesday at the Hudson Institute she decided to "put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, who would secure the border, no more excuses."

She added Trump "has not been perfect" on various policies, but "Biden has been a catastrophe." Haley suggested her decision to support the former president this fall was largely based on that.

Cruz ran against Trump for the GOP nomination in 2016 with a host of other candidates and was the last to concede the former president would win the nomination that year.

He said when he decided to support Trump in 2016 it was based on a belief that he would "go with someone who is saying he is going to do good things and do everything I can to help encourage him to do good things."