Cruz Campaign Sets Up Shop In Ellington Next To Local Islamic Center

ELLINGTON, CT - The Ted Cruz campaign has opened an office at 4 West Road next to the local Islamic center, the campaign announced Saturday.

The building near the Vernon line is being staffed by dozens of volunteers using phone banks, social media and staffers will be distributing signs and literature in support of the Texas senator's bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

On Sunday, the campain staged an event at which supporters from all religious backgrounds rallied "to show their support for Ted Cruz's efforts to keep America safe while defeating racism," the campaign said.

Cruz bashed what he called GOP competitor Donald Trump's "proposed ban on Muslims."

“I do not agree with Trump's proposal. I do not believe it is the right solution," he said. "There are millions of peaceful Muslims across the world in countries like India where there is not the problems we are seeing in nations that have territories controlled by al Qaeda, Hamas or ISIS, and we should direct at the problem, focus on the problem, and defeat radical Islamic terrorism. It’s not a war on faith, it’s a war on political and theocratic ideology that seeks to murder us.”

Joel Leyden, the director of the Cruz CT campaign office in Ellington, said: "Look at Israel. This Jewish, democratic nation in the Middle East does not ban Muslims. Rather they enhance their security as they look at all Jews, Christians and Muslims who enter their nation. Like Israel, the United States should never discriminate against a religion. That's not who we are. We are a country which was created to unite, not divide."

The GOP primary is being staged Tuesday in the state.

Photo credit: Cruz CT