Ted Cruz bests Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush for the endorsement of a Miami-Dade leader. | Getty Florida GOPer endorses Cruz

A GOP leader in the Miami-Dade community has bucked conventional wisdom by endorsing a Republican presidential candidate that isn’t Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio.

In a letter published on Christmas Day in the Miami Herald, the Republican Party of Miami-Dade’s Vice Chairman, Manny Roman, throws his support behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Both Bush and Rubio call the Miami-Dade County area home.


Roman writes he “had every reason to support Senator Rubio,” calling him “well-liked,” and acknowledges him as a colleague at Florida International University, where Rubio often teaches politics.

Instead, Roman writes that Cruz breaks through the noise and the “overwhelming indirect pressure to get behind” Bush, the former governor, or Rubio, the sitting U.S. senator.

“Cruz is an incredibly talented, principled, and unwavering voice for constitutional and limited government,” he continues. “That’s why I’m endorsing him.”

He said he will help lead a grassroots effort in Miami-Dade to help the Cruz campaign win there and elsewhere.