Ted Cruz taps Gortz Haus owners as ‘religious liberty ambassadors’

The Cruz campaign has anointed two Iowans as its “religious liberty ambassadors” in the state.

Gortz Haus owners Dick and Betty Odgaard will serve that role and have officially joined the campaign’s Iowa leadership team, the Cruz camp announced Tuesday.

The Odgaards have become a favored talking point of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz as he seeks the White House. Cruz has mentioned them repeatedly as an example of why he would fight to uphold religious liberty if elected.

The Odgaards faced a lawsuit after they refused to host a same-sex wedding in their Grimes venue for religious reasons. They later stopped holding weddings altogether and shut down the Gortz Haus due to declining revenue.

Cruz, a Texas Republican, has used the Odgaards’ story as a rallying cry to religious conservatives.

The campaign plans to hold a religious rally featuring the Odgaards in Des Moines on Aug. 21.

Cruz’s next scheduled visit to Iowa is a stop at the Des Moines Register’s Soapbox during the Iowa State Fair the same day as the August rally.

In addition to the Odgaards, the Cruz campaign announced eight other Iowans had joined his leadership team.

They include:

• State Sen. Bill Anderson and Angie Anderson, Pierson

• Pastor Robert Deever, West Des Moines

• Pastor John Desauliniers Jr., Mingo

• Jason Hamann, Correctionville

• Pastor Edward Mast, Epworth

• Professor Gregory Tapis, Davenport

• Linda Stickle, Anamosa

The leadership team is unpaid staff.

Cruz’s campaign has two paid staffers in Iowa: Iowa director Bryan English and senior field director Jake Dagel.