Cruz rides shotgun around DC Beltway with truckers convoy
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Thursday rode shotgun with truckers from the “People’s Convoy” protest movement at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland.
The People’s Convoy, inspired by the Canadian trucker convoy that resulted in the multi-day shut down of Ontario’s Ambassador Bridge, is protesting to end workplace vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions.
In a series of tweets, Cruz confirmed his visit and shared photos and videos of him riding in a truck and addressing the crowd.
A video posted on Thursday morning to his personal Twitter account showed the Republican senator in the passenger seat while driving around the venue.
“Thank you to every trucker who is standing up for freedom for every man, woman, and child in America!” he said.
He shared another photo from the event with the caption, “God bless The People’s Convoy!”
Cruz addressed the crowd while surrounded by truckers, drivers and supporters.
“Your voice is being heard,” he said, according to The Washington Post. “What the men and women want here is for the government to leave you the hell alone … That is the most American sentiment you could imagine.”
Cruz’s appearance comes just a day after he and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) met with convoy participants.
The convoy, which has been staked out in the Washington, D.C. area since last week, is calling for an “end the State of Emergency that led to overreaching mandates.”
The group in a statement last week referred to itself as a “peaceful and unified transcontinental movement.”
Cruz has long been a supporter of the truckers’ anti-mandate movement in Canada and has repeatedly tweeted supportive messages for it.
The Post added that, according to the group’s organizer Brian Brase, the convoy will head to Washington D.C., for a press conference at noon with Cruz as a passenger in the lead truck.
Cruz and Brase did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
“God bless these Canadian truck drivers. They’re defending Canada, America, and they’re standing up for freedom! The government doesn’t have the right to force you to comply to their arbitrary mandates,” the Texas senator said last month.