A week into his presidential campaign, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is trying to appeal western states through his opposition to the expansive land holdings by the federal government.
Conservatives in Nevada, one of the early primary states, could be won over by Cruz's tough stance against federal land control in a state where the federal government owns 81 percent of the land,
The Hill is reporting.
"This is an issue he's been focused on for quite some time, and it's one that plays extremely well with the conservative base in the western part of the United States," said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell, who advised Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
James McCarthy, Clark University geography professor and historian, told The Hill that "this is something that has been a perennial issue in the West since it became part of the United States," adding that "it's a staple of western politics to complain about that."
In a
recent poll from Gravis Marketing, Cruz was tied with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for first place in Nevada, with each earning support from 18 percent of registered voters.
According to Catherine Frazier, Cruz campaign spokeswoman, "the senator will continue to be a champion in defending private property rights."
Cruz opposed the $595 billion defense spending bill passed in December 2014 on the grounds that an
"extreme land grab" amendment was attached to it.
The federal government owns 630 million acres of land across the country, which is more than Alaska and California combined. The majority of that land is west of the Mississippi, and controlled by the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service.
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