Club for Growth has been leading the not-Trump charge for a while. Now it has officially endorsed Ted Cruz for president.

The political arm of the Club for Growth, which has invested millions in ads to stop Donald Trump, is going one step further and endorsing Ted Cruz.

“Ted Cruz is the best free-market, pro-growth, limited-government candidate in the presidential race,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh said in a statement.

The Club for Growth PAC has never previously endorsed in a presidential race.

“This year is different,” McIntosh said, “because there is a vast gulf between the two leading Republican candidates on matters of economic liberty. Their records make clear that Ted Cruz is a consistent conservative who will fight to shrink the federal footprint, while Donald Trump would seek to remake government in his desired image.”

The Club endorsed Cruz in his Texas Senate race so this was not unexpected though one wonders why they waited once Rubio exited the race.

As an aside, Trump and the Club for Growth have been slanging one another for a few months now and this gives an object lesson in how Trump’s wealth corrupts everyone who deals with him whether they are Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, Ben Carson, or Rudy Giuliani.

Club for Growth letter- trying to extort $1,000,000.00 from me. Remember, I said- NO! pic.twitter.com/suIfdiMg0Q — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2016

This fundraising letter, two weeks, before Trump was a candidate, is being tossed about by Trump as evidence that the Club for Growth is opposing him because he refused to give them money.