By
Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* Despite his earlier condemnations of Donald Trump, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has now officially thrown his support behind the former president’s 2024 candidacy.
* On a related note, Trump has now secured endorsements from a majority of the Republicans in the Senate — 25 endorsements out of 49 members — though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Thune remain neutral in the primary race.
* With a week remaining before New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary, a new Suffolk University/NBC10 Boston/Boston Globe poll found Trump leading the party’s field with 50% support, followed by Haley with 34%. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has seen his support collapse in the Granite State, was third in the poll with 5% support.
* Haley, the child of Indian immigrants, has a given name of Nimarata Nikki Randhawa. With this in mind, Trump has now begun using his social media platform to call the former ambassador “Nimrada” — a likely deliberate misspelling.
* As House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik continues her apparent campaign to be Trump’s running mate, the New York congresswoman responded to the Iowa caucus results by calling on DeSantis and Haley to end their candidacies.
* The day after abandoning his own presidential campaign, Vivek Ramaswamy joined Trump on stage at an event in New Hampshire. Some in the crowd chanted, “Veep” as if the young entrepreneur would be considered for the former president’s ticket.
* And in the Orlando area, Democrat Tom Keen successfully flipped a Florida state House seat in a special election this week. Keen, a former Navy flight officer, appears to have defeated Republican Erika Booth by roughly 2.6 points.