"I am proud to endorse Ted Cruz," Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Tuesday on Charlie Sykes' radio show on WTMJ in Milwaukee. | Getty Scott Walker endorses Ted Cruz 'He is the best-positioned candidate to both win the Republican nomination and defeat Hillary Clinton,' the Wisconsin governor says.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker endorsed Ted Cruz on Tuesday, becoming the latest lawmaker to support the Texas senator as he seeks to emerge as the consensus anti-Trump choice in the Republican primary.

Walker said on Charlie Sykes' radio show on WTMJ in Milwaukee that he was "proud" to back Cruz, casting his decision as one for Cruz and not against anyone else.


"After eight years of the failed Obama-Clinton Administration, Americans are looking for real leadership and a new direction. Ted Cruz is a principled constitutional conservative who understands that power belongs to the states — and to the people — and not bureaucrats in Washington," Walker said in a statement released as he announced his decision on Sykes' show. "Just like we did in Wisconsin, Ted Cruz is not afraid to challenge the status quo and to stand up against the big government special interests. He is the best-positioned candidate to both win the Republican nomination and defeat Hillary Clinton. That’s why I endorse Ted Cruz for President of the United States."

In citing his reasoning for backing Cruz, Walker said, "I just fundamentally believe that he is a constitutional conservative," in addition to favorably comparing Cruz's style and policies as more suitable to the middle of the country.

"I wanted to make sure I was supporting someone ... I wasn't against someone," said Walker, who said he plans to campaign on behalf of Cruz ahead of the state's primary on April 5. "I want to be for something."

Cruz appears competitive in Wisconsin, and Walker’s endorsement could help nudge some Republicans currently sitting on the sidelines to get behind Cruz as part of a broader effort to stop Donald Trump.

Predicting victory for Cruz next Tuesday, Walker said such a performance would put the Texas senator "firmly on path" to claiming the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the GOP nomination before Cleveland. He also voiced concern for the campaign's negative tone but said the people of Wisconsin “should pride themselves on that we look past the bluster, we look past the national media spin."

“Governor Walker has been an outstanding leader in the conservative movement and I’m honored to have his endorsement,” Cruz said in a statement. “Gov. Walker courageously stood up to special interests and won in a bitter fight in Wisconsin. His leadership has made a profound impact on the people of Wisconsin and I welcome his advice on how we can unite the Republican Party and defeat Hillary Clinton in November.”

Cruz, who has opened several field offices in Wisconsin, is spending the beginning of this week campaigning there. The Texas senator will hit two stops in the Milwaukee area on Tuesday with Carly Fiorina before participating in a CNN town hall event later in the evening. Trump has also raised his profile in the state. He is holding a rally in Janesville, the hometown of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has obliquely rebuked the Republican front-runner multiple times.

While polling in the state is far from robust, the few surveys that exist have shown Cruz drawing closer to Trump over the past month, with the Manhattan businessman holding a 2-point advantage over his rival in the RealClearPolitics average since mid-February — 32 percent to 30 percent.

The endorsement from Walker, who has been critical of Trump, signals to other Republicans opposed to the mogul that it’s time to coalesce behind Cruz, said Brandon Scholz, a longtime Wisconsin Republican operative who now runs a governmental and public affairs group.

"For those Republicans who may be kind of sitting on the fence, saying to themselves, ‘I don’t know if there’s a lot I like about [Cruz], but I also know I don’t like Trump …,’ this probably is the shove they need to get going,” Scholz said. Walker has seen his approval ratings plummet as a result of his presidential campaign, which sputtered to a halt after a series of missteps — and after being routinely drowned out by Trump — last summer. But he remains well-respected among the conservative grass roots and other Republicans in the state. His endorsement of Cruz follows that of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who backed Cruz last week after being a vocal supporter of Marco Rubio.

In an interview the day before Walker’s endorsement, Sykes, who has announced his support for Cruz, described the kind of Republicans who would be swayed by the governor’s endorsement of Cruz as concentrated in the Milwaukee suburbs and as “probably somebody who had supported Walker or Rubio … somebody who would never have imagined they’d be a Cruz supporter. Prior to this, they might have had a long list of people ahead of him. I think that will help.”

"After the way I beat Gov. Scott Walker (and Jeb, Rand, Marco and all others) in the Presidential Primaries, no way he would ever endorse me!" Trump tweeted Monday.

Nationally, people who have long track records of clashing with the hard-line conservative Cruz, from Lindsey Graham to Mitt Romney, have also recently voiced support for the senator, citing the need to stop Trump, though Cruz currently has support from only two Senate colleagues.