Cruz to air first TV ads Easter weekend

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will air the first TV ads for his presidential bid over the Easter weekend, with spots aimed at wooing Christian conservatives in four early-voting states.

The first ad buy for Cruz’s 2016 campaign will air in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada during the Fox News Channel’s broadcast of “Killing Jesus.” The documentary is based on the book by Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and will air on Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

The ad, titled “Blessing,” uses audio from Cruz’s presidential announcement in late March on top of a montage of scenes.

{mosads}It shows Cruz alongside his family, a silhouette of a family walking through a cornfield, a child praying, a group of children saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and a soldier hugging his wife and infant child.

“Were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the household,” Cruz says.

“God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation.”

A release from the Cruz campaign notes that “Killing Jesus” scored 3.7 million viewers the first time it aired, and that a “similarly large Christian audience” is expected for the Fox News showing.

Cruz is the only major presidential candidate who has officially announced, with a number of recent polls showing his stock rising since he formally entered the race.

A Fox News poll from Thursday shows Cruz tied in fourth place among potential Republican presidential candidates. Cruz is tied with former Gov. Mike Huckabee (Ark.), who is expected to be one of his main competitors for the evangelical vote, at 10 percent.

Gov. Scott Walker (Wis.) leads the pack with 15 percent of the vote, followed by former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush at 12 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 11 percent.