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Rep. Peter King (R-NY) speaks at the First in the Nation Republican Leadership Summit April 17, 2015, in Nashua, New Hampshire. | Getty Peter King: Trump is ‘more reasonable’ than 'hopeless' Cruz

Peter King on Friday said he would back Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump over Ted Cruz, highlighting the billionaire as a more reasonable general-election candidate than the “phony,” “hopeless,” “irredeemable” Texas senator.

King voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in New York’s primary, though he also correctly predicted that Trump would score a big victory in the state Tuesday. Similarly to the way he shied away from characterizing his vote as a Kasich endorsement, King stressed Friday that he isn’t endorsing Trump but remarked that he would choose the real estate mogul over Cruz.

“But Donald Trump, to be an effective candidate in the general election, has to show substance,” King told CNN. “He has to show that he's gone just beyond, you know, the name-calling and the sound bites and, again, he's not my first choice for candidate but he's got to show that he knows what he's talking about.”

King initially supported Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign but said he voted for Kasich via absentee ballot to send a message to Trump: If he wants Republicans’ support, he has to provide more substance. As for Cruz, King said he hates the Texas firebrand and quipped that he would take cyanide if Cruz ever got the GOP nomination.

“Ted Cruz to me is a phony. I don't trust him,” King said Friday. “I think Donald Trump, behind it all, is the more reasonable person, and I believe that he has enough common sense but, again, he has to show that. To me, Ted Cruz is hopeless. He's irredeemable.”

Cruz finished third in New York’s primary with less than 15 percent of the vote and left without acquiring a single delegate. In King’s Long Island district, Cruz garnered just 8 percent of the vote.

The New York congressman suggested earlier this month that any New Yorker who even considered voting for Cruz have their head examined.