Charleston, S.C. – Ted Cruz’s stump speech has evolved ever-so-slightly over the past few months. In the weeks leading up to Iowa, he took the tone of a clergyman and regularly began his talks by itemizing the objectives he would accomplish on his first day in office. That theme continued in New Hampshire, though he cut back somewhat on the spiritual rhetoric, and in certain instances kicked off his appearances with an ode to the Constitution in the “Live Free or Die State.”
The most noticeable change, however, has come here in South Carolina. It was precipitated not by any ideological or geographic shift, but rather by the death last Sunday of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Cruz, who clerked for the high court and argued cases in front of it as Texas’s solicitor general, has not simply incorporated Scalia’s death into his stump speech; he has reworked the entire presentation around the vacancy left by the “lion of the court.”
After taking the stage here at the College of Charleston and riffing for a few minutes informally – he joked about Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” fame being appointed U.N. Ambassador – Cruz launched into a speech that covered reliable talking points despite being restructured to revolve around the Supreme Court’s sudden opening.
Cruz, who knew the justice personally, said Scalia’s passing “leaves a huge vacuum on the court” and suggested that conservative voters here and nationwide should be asking themselves, “Who do we know beyond a shadow of a doubt will nominate and fight to confirm principled constitutionalists who will protect the Bill of Rights?”
At that point, Cruz had positioned himself to address the familiar topics he’s long emphasized – but with a fresh urgency. “The Court is hanging in the balance,” he warned them, roaming the stage. The issues conservatives care most about – abortion restrictions, religious liberties, and the Second Amendment, to name a few – are “one liberal justice away” from being extinguished altogether, Cruz said.
It’s a novel and highly topical upgrade to a presentation that for Cruz had already proven successful, especially in front of red-meat conservative audiences like the one here. (They were warmed up by Fox News host Sean Hannity, who criticized President Obama as “dumb” and repeatedly razzed the “stupid liberal media.”)
Cruz’s revamped stump speech carries two noticeable benefits: It lends additional gravity and pertinence to stories Cruz has long told about arguing winning cases in front of the Supreme Court on gun-control and the public display of religious symbols. It also plays perfectly into his core message of elevating ideology over party: Cruz warned that GOP presidents have appointed justices who turned out to be moderates; only by electing a conservative president, he said, can voters feel certain they’ll get conservative justices.
It’s an effective pitch — and, given the brewing battle in Washington that will keep Scalia’s vacancy in the news, one that Cruz is likely to hang onto for a while.