Ted Cruz names Carly Fiorina as his running mate

  • 28/04/2016
Carly Fiorina (L) and Ted Cruz (R) at a campaign rally in Indianapolis, Indiana (Reuters)
Carly Fiorina (L) and Ted Cruz (R) at a campaign rally in Indianapolis, Indiana (Reuters)

By James Oliphant

US Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, in a last-ditch bid to slow front-runner Donald Trump's momentum, has named former business executive Carly Fiorina to be his vice presidential running mate if he wins the nomination.

Fiorina, 61, dropped her own White House bid in February after a lacklustre seventh-place finish in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.

Cruz's unusually early announcement of a running mate on Wednesday appeared to be a bid to recover from the previous day's losses, which moved Trump closer to the 1237 delegates he needs to win the nomination at the July 18-21 Republican convention in Cleveland.

The choice of Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard Co chief executive who, like Trump, has never held elective office, could help Cruz with women voters, a group that Trump has had difficulty winning over to his outsider campaign.

It also could offer Cruz a boost in the June 7 primary in California, where in 2010 Fiorina won the Republican primary for the US Senate.

She was defeated in the subsequent general election by incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer.

In a statement, Trump was scornful of Cruz's decision to pick a running mate, calling it "a pure waste of time" and "a desperate attempt to save a failing campaign by an all-talk, no-action politician".

"Cruz has no path to victory. He is only trying to stay relevant," the New York billionaire and former reality TV star said.

Trump and Fiorina tangled on the campaign trail during her White House race.

After Trump insulted her looks in an interview - "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that?" - she sternly rebuked him in a debate.

"I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr Trump said," Fiorina said last September.

A breast cancer survivor who lost a stepdaughter to drug addiction, Fiorina served as Hewlett-Packard CEO from 1999 to 2005.

Her campaign never took off in the original, crowded 17-member Republican presidential field, and she was mostly relegated to the early second-tier debates for low-polling candidates.

If she is nominated, Fiorina would become the third woman to win a major-party vice presidential nomination.

She would follow Geraldine Ferraro, who ran with Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984, and Sarah Palin, who ran with Republican John McCain in 2008.

Reuters