Club for Growth has endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz for president, the first time conservative political advocacy group has recommended a candidate for commander-in-chief.
"Ted Cruz is the best free-market, pro-growth, limited-government candidate in the presidential race," Club for Growth President David McIntosh said Wednesday.
"The Club's PAC has never endorsed in a presidential race, but this year is different because there is a vast gulf between the two leading Republican candidates on matters of economic liberty."
For months, Club for Growth Action, the group's super PAC, has shelled out millions of dollars to bash Donald Trump in TV advertising, calling him a "very liberal" candidate who will end up costing Republicans the White House.
Trump charges that the group turned against him after he rejected their appeal for a donation.
McIntosh said the records of both the billionaire businessman and the Texas senator "make clear that Ted Cruz is a consistent conservative who will fight to shrink the federal footprint."
Trump, he charged, would "seek to remake government in his desired image."
"That's why the Club's PAC is urging everyone in the conservative movement to join in this important campaign to elect Ted Cruz as President," McIntosh said.
Last November, McIntosh accused Trump of touting "liberal big-government policies that Democrats embrace" simply to win votes.
And two months earlier, he said Trump was the "worst Republican candidate on economic issues" and that "short of Bernie Sanders, he may be the most liberal candidate" in the race.
Trump, for his part, trashed Club for Growth on Twitter, claiming the group runs an "extortion" racket after it asked him for a $1 million donation that he declined to give.
He labeled the Club for Growth "phony" and its members "total hypocrites."
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