Thursday’s latest endorsement for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was a two-for-one deal for the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign.
In South Carolina, where Republican voters will make their choice for their party’s presidential nomination a week from Saturday, there are two major voting blocs. Christian conservatives make up one, while active-duty military and veterans make up the other.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (ret.) bridges both groups. He retired after 36 years in the military, and is also an ordained with a passion for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, as of Thursday afternoon, he was firmly with the Cruz Crew.
“The next president will appoint three Supreme Court Justices,” he said. “I want Ted Cruz to do that. He is a man of character, integrity and courage.”
Boykin is one of the original members of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and later commanded the elite warriors in combat operations. He went on to command all the Army’s Green Berets, as well as the Special Warfare Center and School.
He spent the last four years of his highly decorated career as the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence in President George W. Bush’s administration. Those are all credentials that will resonate with South Carolina’s 466,000 military personnel and veterans.
Boykin is also executive vice president of Family Research Council, a position he’s held since 2012. And in that role, he has become one of the nation’s leading pro-family voices. Those are credentials that will resonate with South Carolina’s 3.2 million evangelical Christians.
“I am honored to have the support of Lt. General Boykin,” Cruz said. “He has served our nation faithfully, first as a soldier, ultimately as a commanding general and also as a family man. Our nation needs more service members like Lt. General Boykin: tenacious, focused and eager to defend innocent human life regardless of the cost.”
