More than a thousand people turned out to see Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a presidential campaign rally in the Fort Worth Stockyards Thursday morning.
Cruz is one of more than a dozen Republicans vying for the nomination.
Cruz told the crowd it was great to be home. He highlighted his plans to get rid of the Affordable Health Care Act.
He also said he wants to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and got a big applause when he said they should padlock the IRS building.
NBC DFW sat down with Cruz before the rally to talk about Donald Trump. Cruz has been one of the few candidates to sing Trump's praises.
Cruz said Trump is beneficial for his campaign.
"If there is one thing Donald is very good at it is attracting attention. You look at the first debate, 24 million people watched that, it broke records. Coming out of that debate most of the other candidates -- their numbers either stagnated or went down, our national support doubled coming out of that debate," said Cruz.
"I'm thrilled that millions of people turn on the TV to see Donald trump. Those millions of extra eyeballs had the opportunity, maybe for the first time, to hear my positive optimistic conservative message," Cruz said.
NBC DFW also asked Cruz about Governor Perry, who is struggling financially and in the polls. We asked what he thinks Perry should do, and if he will go after Perry’s supporters.
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“I like Rick Perry. Rick is a friend of mine. I think he was a terrific governor of the state of Texas, and I like and respect him. He will make the decision what to do with his campaign, everyone will do that. Am I going after his supporters? Absolutely. I'm going after the supporters of every other candidate in this race," Cruz said.
After Fort Worth, Cruz headed to Tyler for another rally Thursday afternoon.
