Texas State Senator Bryan Hughes and Texas Representative Cole Hefner talk before a re-election campaign for Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz at John Soules Foods in Tyler on Monday April 2, 2018. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, praised one of Tyler’s most famous food companies as an example of heroism and Texas identity during a campaign stop here on Monday.

Cruz engaged the crowd in a speech about Texans and heroes. He included military personnel, first responders, single mothers and small business owners as Texan heroes.

Cruz, who was first elected in 2012, is running for re-election on Nov. 6 against Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, whose candidacy many consider a longshot. Cruz’s campaign slogan is “Tough as Texas.”

The event took place at the headquarters of John Soules Foods, where about 100 people, including most elected officials in Smith County, filled the room’s seats and lined the walls to hear Cruz speak.

“In the past five years, I have been incredibly privileged to get to know those heroes that we dreamed about as kids, to get to know them in everyday life across the great state of Texas,” Cruz said.

“Whether it is small business owners who provide jobs, who provide strength for the community; whether it is pastors who minister to our souls and spread the gospel; or whether it is single moms who sacrificially provide for their kids,” he said, “we’re surrounded by heroes.”

Cruz told the story of how the main plant for John Soules Foods burned to the ground in 1994. He praised the company for choosing to stay open and later to donate money to the University of Texas at Tyler’s College of Business and Technology.

“That was a hard blow,” Cruz said of the 1994 fire. “That, I’m sure, was not an easy day. But John’s a Texan. John junior’s a Texan, and so, the plant burned to the ground, the company kept going.”

He said the company re-opened 45 days after the fire, and then, in February, donated money to the UT Tyler to create the Soules College of Business.

“That’s a hero,” he said. “That’s a Texan.”

Cruz also pointed to the Pantry Restaurant in McKinney, north of Dallas. He described how the owner, an immigrant, made the business successful and feels a strong identity as a Texan.

“I’ve said many times that Texas is America on steroids,” Cruz said. “The ethos of our great state is, ‘Give me a horse and a gun and an open plain and we can conquer the world.’”

“When John Soules Foods burned to the ground, y’all didn’t sit around and say ‘woe is me. I guess it’s all over.’ You stepped up and said, ‘In the face of adversity, Texans get stronger because Texas is tough,’” Cruz said.

“That defines our state,” he said. “That’s who we are.”

Campaign against O’Rourke

Before the event, O’Rourke’s campaign sent out a news release saying that O’Rourke has been to Tyler three times in the past year and questioning whether Cruz is listening to people in Tyler.

The O’Rourke campaign released an image criticizing Cruz’s presidential campaign in the 2016 primary, when he came in second to Donald Trump.

“Ted Cruz visited 99 of Iowa’s 99 counties,” the image says. “When’s the last time he listened to Texans in Tyler?”

O’Rourke visited Tyler in May and August of 2017 and January 2018, while Cruz visited in February, August and September of 2017, January 2018 and Monday, according to campaign information and newspaper archives. 

Outside of Cruz’s event, about a half-dozen O’Rourke supporters stood across the street holding signs with slogans such as, “Immigrants help make America strong,” and, “Rafael, you’re fired,” referencing Cruz’s full name, Rafael Edward Cruz.

Two of the protesters had tickets and attempted to attend the event, but security escorted them out after another attendee recognized them from the protest.

Cruz said in an interview that he is “in a very strong position” in his campaign against O’Rourke. However, he called the increased Democratic turnout statewide in the March primary “a warning sign” for conservatives.

Democrats showed up to the polls in March in the highest numbers in 16 years, according to the Associated Press. In conservative Smith County, Democratic participation more than doubled in comparison to a similar primary in 2014.

“That’s a caution for everyone in Texas who wants to see Texas stay red and wants to protect our freedoms, but fortunately there are more conservatives than liberals in Texas,” Cruz said.

Cruz criticized O’Rourke for “running to the hard left” of him. He declined to say whether he would run for president again in 2020.

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