Hundreds of church leaders have gathered in Texas to anoint Republican presidential contender Senator Ted Cruz.

Three hundred pastors met at a remote ranch last night to hear from the senator and express the support of many evangelical conservative voters across the country.

Senator Cruz has received the backing of Dan and Farris Wilks, two brothers who made over a billion dollars during the Texas fracking boom and who hosted the event, claiming they are motivated by the belief that their country was "founded on the idea that our rights come from the Creator, not the government".

Although the race for the Republican nominee has been dominated by Donald Trump's candidacy, Senator Cruz has received endorsements from a number of evangelical groups. Laura Barnett, a spokeswoman for a political action committee supporting Cruz, says support is now "coalescing very rapidly" around him.

Senator Cruz is hoping that the evangelical vote will propel him to success as the Republican nominee and, ultimately, to the White House. He claims that there are 90million evangelical Christians in America, 54million of whom did not vote in 2012.

Political analysts have been sceptical of his calculations but Cruz' supporters remain confident that he can capture the hearts and minds of evangelical, conservative voters across the country.