NEW YORK—It was a scene that just weeks ago might have been almost unimaginable: Ted Cruz, who has derided rival Donald Trump for his "New York values," campaigning in a midtown Manhattan chandelier-clad ballroom after receiving the endorsement of Jeb Bush earlier that morning.

But such is the state of the GOP race for the White House. With more than a dozen states left to weigh in and time running out to prevent the front-runner from winning the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination, the Texas senator is starting to consolidate the anti-Trump support, even as Ohio Gov. John Kasich remains in the race.

"Our campaign has been supported by Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee, and Mark Levin," Cruz told the Republican Women's Club on Wednesday, after having made the rounds of all the network morning shows. "If you want to talk about the full spectrum of the Republican Party, as broad and ideologically diverse as you could imagine, that's it."

Wednesday marked one year since Cruz entered the Republican presidential primary—the first candidate to officially do so. On Tuesday night, he defeated Trump in the Utah caucuses, winning 69 percent of the support and all of the state's 40 delegates. The same night, however, his chief rival won Arizona and its 58 delegates, and leads the field by a margin of 274 delegates.

Currently, Kasich has fewer delegates than Marco Rubio collected, and the Florida senator is no longer in the race. While Kasich has a long history within the Republican Party and won his home state last week, many in the party believe his path ended there, serving only to prevent Trump from winning Ohio's 66 delegates.

Cruz said Kasich is ineligible to vie for the nomination at the convention, as current rules dictate a minimum of eight state victories. Only Cruz himself and Trump will be considered at the convention in Cleveland, he asserted.

The Kasich campaign argued that the rule could be changed the week before the July convention when the Republican National Committee meets, and believes delegates would come to the conclusion that neither Cruz nor Trump is electable when matched against Hillary Clinton. "Ted Cruz would not only lose the White House but would cost Senate seats," said spokesman Chris Schrimpf.

The campaign also dismissed the GOP endorsements Cruz has won. "If Bush was a kingmaker, he would be the king right now," Schrimpf said. "The establishment all ran to Jeb Bush, and Bush lost. They ran to Marco Rubio and Rubio lost. They don't have a good record this year."

For his part, Cruz argued that Trump would lose the entire ballot for the GOP.

"If a Republican cannot carry the state of Utah, as Donald Trump can't, that means you are looking at a Mondale-level bloodbath of a defeat across this country," he told reporters, referring to a recent poll that found Clinton leading the real estate tycoon in the state. "Nominating Donald Trump would not only elect Hillary Clinton, but it would lose the Senate and might well lose the House of Representatives, lose up and down the ballot."

Cruz also warned against a brokered convention, in which party leaders could put forth another candidate, suggesting he won't simply stand as a vehicle blocking Trump’s path. "If they tried that you would see the voters revolt, quite rightly," he said.

The freshman senator often revels in his status as one of the most detested men in Washington. Those who have since endorsed him had been public about their antipathy. Cruz joked to the New York City crowd about the irony of hosting a fundraiser in Washington last week with Graham, "who three weeks ago had publically called for my murder." Now, even those who dislike him see Cruz as the last best chance to have a true conservative represent the party.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who suspended his own presidential campaign last summer, also expressed support for Cruz. "If you're someone who is uneasy with the front-runner right now, there's really only one candidate," Walker said in a radio interview. "Ted Cruz is the only one who's got a chance other than Donald Trump to win the nomination statistically, and my friend Governor Kasich."

Walker's support could be useful ahead of Wisconsin's winner-take-most primary on April 5. Both Cruz and Kasich are campaigning there this week. (The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Trump leading by five percentage points.)

Bush described his support for Cruz in similar terms Wednesday. "Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday’s Utah caucus," the former Florida governor said in a Facebook post. "For the sake of our party and country, we must overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton, this fall."

That "divisiveness and vulgarity" was on display again this week. After a super PAC unrelated to Cruz posted a provocative picture of Melania Trump on Facebook, Trump threated to "spill the beans" on Cruz's wife, Heidi.

Speaking to reporters in Manhattan, Cruz called the innuendo "gutter politics" and said it resulted from Trump wanting to change the conversation from foreign policy following the Brussels attacks and his loss in Utah. "The fact that Donald is attacking Heidi says a lot about his character," Cruz said.

He also asserted that Trump's call to withdraw from NATO, which came one day before the bombings, "demonstrated just how unprepared and how unsuited he is to be commander-in-chief."

Cruz also has come under fire, however, for proposing that Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S. be patrolled as a way to combat terrorism. Trump endorsed the idea, and Cruz has been accused of embracing his rival's controversial rhetoric on the topic. Cruz compared his proposal to the New York Police Department's controversial surveillance program that was disbanded under Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Cruz defended his call in a series of interviews and during his appearance here.

"Mayor de Blasio came in and decided political correctness mattered more than keeping people safe," he told “CBS This Morning.” NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told the same program that Cruz has "no idea what the hell he's talking about."

The Texas senator also did not back away from his "New York values" criticism of Trump, and said that heading into the April 19 primary, "the people of New York understand first-hand the liberal left-wing values of New York politicians." Trump, he said, has "bankrolled" that effort.