“This election will be about three things,” Cruz said. “No. 1—jobs, No. 2—freedom, and No. 3—security.”

Among other policy positions, Cruz, who was introduced by former Republican candidate for governor Ellen Sauerbrey, and former Republican candidate for president Carly Fiorina, said he will push for a flat tax if elected and vowed to do away with both the Internal Revenue Service and Obamacare. He promised “to reign in the EPA” and federal government regulators, which he described as “descending like locusts” on small business owners and ranchers.

“We’ll see morning in America,” Cruz said to big applause.

At the outset, Cruz directed his words to the “single mothers working two jobs,” “union workers,” and “truck drivers” in the audience—although didn’t appear to be many of those in the nearly all-white, mid-afternoon audience. Later, he addressed the significant number of young adults in the crowd, referring to skyrocketing tuition costs and debt burdens, both personal and national, he said they will endure if the country continues on its current path.

He also reiterated his support for gun rights and Israel.

“You know, it’s easy to talk about making America great again,” Cruz said, referencing Trump’s campaign motto. “Or, even putting that on a baseball cap. But really, the question is [for candidates], ‘Do you even understand the values that made America great?’”

Cruz’s turnout was maybe a third or half of Clinton’s two weekends ago in Baltimore, not surprising perhaps, in generally “blue” voting Maryland. But he did draw supporters from far and wide—most of whom in interviews drew contrasts between Cruz’s conservative bona fides and Trump’s seemingly more malleable positions.

“Cruz is the only guy who talks about small government and ethics,” said Jason Norce of Harrisburg, PA. “He’s an underdog. Trump is just a big show and he doesn’t have one ounce of humbleness.”

“He is a genuine conservative,” said Matt Jacobs, a Towson University sophomore, holding up a Cruz sign on York Road. “He’s not like Donald Trump, who flips flops depending on what position is going to get him the most political attention.”

Others said afterward that Cruz’s appearance solidified their support for his candidacy.

“Ted Cruz is the way to go,” said Chris Mischo, 26, of Davidsonsville. “He has the ability to beat any Democrat that wins their nomination. I’m going to be voting red in November, but the rally today helped me firm up my decision.”

Mischo’s mother, Jill, however, said she remains undecided after Cruz walked past her without answering her query regarding the children of illegal immigrants. “I want to know what he’ll do with the children of illegals, but he didn’t answer my question,” she said. “It makes me reconsider. I’m going to see Kasich tomorrow as well.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, the third candidate still competing in Republican primaries, has scheduled a town hall in Annapolis for Tuesday evening.

There were also about a dozen Trump supporters on hand outside the venue, waving signs along York Road. The New York real estate developer is expected to campaign on the Eastern Shore this Wednesday, with an event planned for Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin.

Cruz, who is trailing Trump nationally in the Republican primary, and Trump and Kasich in the latest New York polling ahead of the primary voting there, said in Towson that he remains the only candidate that can unite Republican primary. He recently won Republican delegate contests in Wyoming and Colorado, but is expected to face a rocky road in coming battles in the Northeast.

The big question on the Republican side for several weeks has been whether Cruz has enough momentum to prevent Trump from earning a majority of the Republican delegates, thereby creating the possibility of a brokered convention and winning the nomination on the second or third delegate ballots.

“Maryland is going to have an outsized voice,” Cruz said, making his case. “As the nation is looking to Maryland to decide do we nominate Donald Trump and hand the election to Hillary Clinton, or do we unite behind the Cruz campaign?”

Additional reporting by Meredith Herzing.

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Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley announced that he was suspending his presidential bid after failing to win over Iowa democratic primary voters, earning less than 1 percent of the delegate tally in the state’s caucus.

As O’Malley noted in ending his struggling campaign Monday night, “Iowa has been like a second home” for the 53-year-old candidate for the past year. Nonetheless, an inability to connect with Hawkeye state voters on the ground; the unexpected success of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ progressive message; unrest in Baltimore, where O’Malley, of course, served as mayor; as well as mediocre debate performances against rivals with more national experience—notably frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—kept O’Malley from registering more than low single digits in polls all primary season.

The winner, however, of the Iowa primary for the Democrats remained up in the air late Monday night, with Clinton and Sanders essentially splitting the vote and delegate tally.

On the Republican ledger, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the clear winner, with 28 percent of the GOP vote. He was followed by businessman Donald Trump with 24 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 23 percent.

Former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson, a political newcomer, who at one time led in the Iowa polls, fell to fourth, registering 9 percent of the tally.

Carson’s slip in the Iowa polls in late November, while certainly disappointing to his supporters, was not completely unexpected by Maryland GOP observers.

“Politics is a contact sport and Ben Carson is not contact person—he’s a nice guy and a genius in his field,” said Joe Custer, executive director of the Maryland Republican Party.

Custer, in an interview Friday, said that he thought Rubio was picking up momentum with more people in the Republican establishment getting behind his candidacy in recent weeks—which was reflected in subsequent Iowa numbers.

Neither Custer and Greg Kline, of the blog Red Maryland, offered support for Trump’s campaign, doubting the real estate developer’s commitment to conservative causes. “It’s very disconcerting,” said Kline, a Cruz supporter, of the former reality TV star’s popularity among the GOP electorate. “He connects with people [who are frustrated with the direction of the country], but he’s a very imperfect vessel. He could be very damaging to conservative principles.”

Towson University communications studies professor Richard Vatz, a longtime, conservative political observer, expressed similarly strong reservations about Trump’s campaign, adding that he’s backing Rubio at this point.

On the other side, Vatz, though certainly not a Sanders supporter, said it’s easy to see why the 74-year-old senator’s populist economic agenda and campaign has surpassed expectations: “He’s authentic,” Vatz says. “There’s no political trickery. He says what he means and that’s that. If you don’t agree, he says ‘fine.’ He doesn’t say one thing to one group of people and then something else to another group of people.”

Todd Eberly, director of Public Policy Studies at St. Mary’s College, said he finds Sanders success to date even more surprising than the rise of Trump—a political rookie—in national polls. But he puts part of the blame at Clinton’s feet.

“It’s amazing to me that she’s making the same mistake she made in 2008, which is running a [a centrist] general election campaign in Democratic primaries,” Eberly said.

In national polls, however, as well as in Maryland, where she out-tallied Sanders by 13 percent (40-27 percent) in the most recent Gonzales poll, Clinton still maintains a healthy lead.

Trump—despite the aforementioned concerns among some state GOP activists—topped the Gonzales poll in Maryland, garnering 32 percent of the Republican vote. He was followed Cruz (15 percent), Rubio (13.6 percent] and Carson (9.3 percent.)

Up next: the New Hampshire primary scheduled for Feb. 9.

Our chance to weigh-in on all this in the Maryland primaries? Not until April 26.

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