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The Texas senator came to far-afield Fargo because 25 delegates to the national convention are at stake at this weekend’s convention. | AP Photo Cruz: Trump would be ‘trainwreck,’ lose to Clinton by ‘double digits’

FARGO, N.D. — Ted Cruz came to the North Dakota Republican convention searching for delegates and delivered a stinging rebuke of Donald Trump’s chances if he’s the Republican nominee, calling him a “trainwreck” for the GOP.

“If we nominate Donald Trump, it hands the general election to Hillary Clinton with a big silver bow,” Cruz told the crowd. “He loses by double digits.”

The Texas senator came to far-afield Fargo because 25 delegates to the national convention are at stake at this weekend’s convention, and they will arrive in Cleveland unbound to any particular candidate.

Cruz urged the crowd to vote in his supporters and tried to use electability as part of his pitch. “Let me tell you, I beat Hillary Clinton,” he said. The majority of Republicans, Cruz said, have continued to vote against Trump because they understand “nominating Donald Trump would be a trainwreck.”

Cruz made no mention of rival John Kasich, whose campaign is also in Fargo on the hunt for delegates. After Cruz spoke, the Ohio governor’s campaign staff distributed a handout showing how Cruz lost head-to-head against Clinton in many recent polls but that Kasich would win.

But on stage Cruz said that there were “only two candidates who have any plausible path” to winning the GOP nomination “me and Donald Trump.”

A woman in the crowd screamed out, “No way not Donald.”

“Well said,” Cruz laughed.