Advertisement Updated: NH staff at pro-Carson super PAC quits to volunteer for Cruz Five paid staffers’ last day was Sunday, call Cruz a ‘conservative who can win’ Share Shares Copy Link Copy

All five paid New Hampshire staffers at the pro-Ben Carson 2016 Committee super PAC quit their posts on Sunday to become volunteers for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, WMUR.com has learned.Jerry Sickles of Keene, the spokesman for the staff, said he and the other four staffers recently came to the conclusion that Cruz is the conservative most able to win the GOP presidential nomination and the presidency. He also noted that Carson has spent very little time campaigning in New Hampshire, which became frustrating to him and the other staffers as they tried to build support in the state.“We hold Dr. Carson in the highest regard,” Sickles said. “This is a man we revere, but we think it is important that our party nominate a conservative and get behind a single conservative who can win, and we strongly believe that candidate is Ted Cruz.”Sickles said that joining him in leaving the 2016 Committee and endorsing Cruz are former state Rep. Tim Comerford of Fremont, Joel Lambert of Alton, Jaye Foster of Keene and Emily Lecuyer of Hampstead.The disclosure comes 10 days after Carson’s campaign operation, which is separate from the 2016 Committee, lost campaign manager Barry Bennett and communications director Doug Watts.The 2016 Committee began as a national effort to draft Carson to run for president, with the theme “Run, Ben, Run.” When Carson became a candidate, the group continued working on his behalf but independent of the Carson campaign operation.The 2016 Committee focuses on grassroots organizing to build support for Carson. The staffers’ move in New Hampshire does not affect the separate Carson campaign operation in the state.A Carson campaign senior adviser said the organization remains strong."As you know, the super PAC is a separate entity from Ben Carson's official New Hampshire campaign. We have 10 staff members and hundreds of volunteers on our Carson New Hampshire team going door-to-door and making phone calls for Dr. Carson," Tille said."Our team even helped out supporters in the Green Mountain State this week to gather well over 1,000 signatures to get Dr. Carson on the ballot in Vermont."Cruz campaign senior adviser Ethan Zorfas said, "We continue to work hard for every vote here in New Hampshire and we are encouraged that conservatives continue to coalesce behind Sen. Cruz here in the Granite State and around the country.""The Paris and the San Bernardino attacks changed everything,” Sickles said. “I believe Republicans are looking for a voice that is more emphatic and has dealt with issues of national security. We believe that Ted Cruz is a conservative Republican in the mold of Ronald Reagan and understands Reagan’s three-legged stool of social conservatism, economic conservatism and strength on national security.”Sickles also said the staffers “definitely noticed” that Carson has campaigned infrequently in New Hampshire. Cruz has not been among the leading candidates visiting New Hampshire, either, but he has been in the state more than Carson.Cruz will campaign in New Hampshire on Tuesday and will return on Jan. 17 for a four-day bus tour of the state.Sickles said that despite Carson’s sparse number of visits, since the summer he and the other staffers “made thousands and thousands of phone calls” on Carson’s behalf.“We haven’t been fired,” Sickles said. “We just decided as a staff that this was the thing we should do at this point. ”It’s something we’ve been talking about among ourselves and we just decided that the timing is right to do this."“I can’t tell you how many times I would be out talking to voters who liked Dr. Carson but said, ‘Can you get him to come here?’”