Story highlights Texas Sen. Ted Cruz would not say whether he'd support Donald Trump if he won the GOP presidential nomination

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a Cruz endorser, pledged to support whoever is the Republican nominee

(CNN) Ted Cruz refused Monday to say that he'll back Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump should the billionaire businessman secure the nomination.

Standing next to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, who pledged to support whoever is the Republican nominee, the Texas senator would not directly answer the same question posed by CNN's Dana Bash in an interview Monday.

Instead, Cruz asked her why the media is "so desperate to get conservatives to give up our principles and support Donald Trump."

"The reason the media wants Donald Trump to be our nominee is it represents a repudiation of conservative principles of the Constitution," he said. "I'm not willing to give up my support for life. I'm not willing to give up my support for the Second Amendment. I'm not willing to give up my support for working men and women."

Cruz is campaigning hard ahead of Tuesday's Indiana primary, despite l agging behind Trump in the polls . He told Bash that many conservatives are unifying behind his campaign and called both Trump and Hillary Clinton "rich New York, big-government liberals."

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