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Senator Ted Cruz speaks at his Pennsylvania kick off event on April 19 in Philadelphia in advance of the Pennsylvania Republican Primary. | AP Photo Cruz is over New York, and on to Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA — Ninety miles from Manhattan, where Donald Trump notched a decisive victory in Tuesday night’s New York primary, Ted Cruz took the stage here at National Constitution Center and sought to move past a blow-out loss.

Appearing at what his team called a “Pennsylvania kickoff event,” the senator barely nodded to a New York race he's on track to lose by double digits, dismissing Trump’s victory as "a politician tonight winning his home state."

Instead, he shifted his emphasis to Pennsylvania, one of a cluster of states that will vote next Tuesday, and to an attempt at a broader message of both unity and of populism.

“You may have been knocked down, but America has always been best when she’s lying down with her back on the mat and the crowd’s given the final count,” Cruz said, in a remark that took on a life of its own on social media as internet commentators, raising eyebrows at the phrasing, pounced. “It is time for us as a nation to get up, to shake it off, and be who we were destined to be.”

The senator, who usually paces the stage without notes, instead spoke from a podium, flanked by American flags and teleprompters and striking a populist note as he sought to connect in a state that has plenty of blue-collar pockets.

“The people in state after state have made it clear: They cry out for a new path. This is the year of the outsider,” he said. “I’m an outsider. Bernie Sanders is an outsider. Both with the same diagnosis, but both with very different paths to heal it. Millions of Americans have chosen one of these outsiders. Our campaigns don’t find our fuel in bundlers and special interests, but rather, directly from the people.”

As for New York, the state actually voting Tuesday night, he said only, “God bless New York and God bless the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Cruz had organized and spent some time in New York, but as he continued to lag badly behind Trump, he tamped down on public appearances, spending the bulk of his time in Manhattan Monday in private meetings and fundraisers, and making a foray into Maryland, which will also vote next week.

At a statewide level, Pennsylvania doesn’t look much more promising than New York did for Cruz, according to public polls that show him well behind Trump in recent surveys. But here, 54 of the state’s 71 delegates to the Republican National Convention are unbound, and Cruz is organizing to ensure that his supporters are heavily represented in the delegation that heads to Cleveland, said his state chairman, Lowman Henry, who described the effort to elect Cruz delegates as akin to running congressional races. In Pennsylvania, each congressional district elects three delegates, and the Cruz team is promoting delegate slates in many of them.

“On delegate count, the key there is organization,” Henry said. Swiping at Trump, he continued, “I know some candidates, who we shall not name, who like to whine about the rules, but in Pennsylvania, we knew what the rules were for electing delegates. Last year, over the holidays, we spent time recruiting good candidates, getting them on the ballot in January and February. We have our people.”

Cruz will campaign in Pennsylvania again Wednesday at an event in Hershey, Pa., joined by surrogate and former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who will make several other stops for him across the state that day. She introduced him here Tuesday night, where he spoke to a gathering that filled about half of an airy room at the center.

The senator’s loss in New York on Tuesday marked the beginning of a spate of tough states for Cruz that will vote into next week. Cruz, who has been urging the anti-Trump GOP base to unite around his campaign, was less explicit in that pitch Tuesday night, aiming for loftier and less combative rhetoric as he called on the party to coalesce and nodded to Democrats with references to former President John F. Kennedy, as well as to Sanders.

“Today, as Republicans, we agree on a lot. And sure, areas of lesser agreement exist as well,” he said. “But on the fundamental question: are we satisfied with the current direction of our country; we speak with one voice. I call on you, as JFK did in the sixties, and Reagan did in the eighties, to chart a new American journey forward.”

The senator’s Tuesday night address, which clocked in at barely over 10 minutes, was also full of overtures to the kinds of working-class voters that look likely to be Trump supporters next week.

“I am so excited to share with you what America has learned over the past few months. And it has nothing to do with a politician tonight winning his home state,” he said, as Trump marched to victory in New York. “It has everything to do with what we’ve seen in the towns and faces that have been weathered with trouble, joblessness, and fear. It is what we learned looking at the factories that have been shuttered and the hearts that are closing. We have learned that America is at a point of choosing.”

Cruz went on to repeatedly riff on a classic campaign line from President Barack Obama as he proffered a vision of peace and prosperity.

“Not ‘yes we can,’ but now: ‘yes we will,” Cruz said.