FILE - In this July 31, 2012 file photo, the then-former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, center, greets supporters at a voting precinct in Houston as he faced Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff election for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. When Cruz first ran for U.S. Senate in Texas, the only thing lower than his name ID were expectations heâd win. Then the state solicitor general, Cruz amassed a coalition anchored by tea party conservatives and evangelicals on his way to defeating a sitting lieutenant governor who entered the primary with the financial and organizational muscle of the GOP establishment. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
The Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is meeting about 300 Christian leaders and key financial backers in Texas this week.
The gathering of evangelical leaders comes as the Texas senator continues to build a nationwide coalition that leans heavily on the religious community and tea party conservatives.
It's the same coalition Cruz tapped when he ran for U.S. Senate in Texas in 2012 and defeated a sitting lieutenant governor.
Now Cruz is trying to take the model nationwide, even as some of his White House rivals compete for the same voters in a scrambled GOP race.
Cruz has already netted endorsements from some key evangelical leaders, and he hopes to emerge from the two days of meetings with even more, giving him momentum heading into the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
FILE - In this Dec. 23, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks with the media before a campaign stop in Oklahoma City. When Ted Cruz first ran for U.S. Senate in Texas, the only thing lower than his name ID were expectations heâd win. Then the state solicitor general, Cruz amassed a coalition anchored by tea party conservatives and evangelicals on his way to defeating a sitting lieutenant governor who entered the primary with the financial and organizational muscle of the GOP establishment. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter, File)
The Associated Press