LA PORTE, Ind., May 2 (UPI) — Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said a young heckler who interrupted his rally should get a spanking.
After a protester yelled out “you suck” during a rally Sunday in Indiana, he said, “You know one of the things that hopefully someone has told you, is that children should actually speak with respect.”
Then, he said, “Imagine what a different world it would be if someone told Donald Trump that years ago,” Cruz added about his Republican rival.
Cruz drew even louder cheers when he said, “You know, in my household, when a child behaves that way, they get a spanking.”
This isn’t the first time on the campaign trail the Texas senator has talked about spanking children.
In Iowa, he told a crowd in a coffee house in January that when his 5-year-old daughter Catherine tells a lie, “she gets a spanking.” He was referring to Hillary Clinton’s comments about the attack on a U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012, when she was secretary of state.
Cruz is campaigning in Indiana one day before the crucial primary. His campaign stops included Bloomington, Ind., where Indiana University is located.
Cruz wants to deny Trump the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination and force a contested convention in Cleveland in July. Indiana is a winner-take-all state with 57 delegates.
An NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released Sunday showed Trump with the support of 49 percent of likely Indiana Republican primary voters, compared with 34 percent for Cruz and 13 percent for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Trump is up in polls in Indiana by an average of 9.3 percentage points, according to RearClearPolitics. This average includes eight polls taken April 13-29.
