In this Sept. 25, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speak in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
BOSTON — Fresh from his victory last week in the Family Research Council’s presidential straw poll, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz arrived in Boston on Friday to meet with Massachusetts conservatives before heading up to New Hampshire for a day of campaigning in the Granite State.
Graphic by the NewBostonPost
Approximately 100 conservative activists, politicians, and Cruz supporters had a chance to talk informally with the Texas senator at an event held at the Union Club in Boston.
Cruz warmed up the crowd with a Tom Brady joke and followed with one about the Pope’s recent visit to the U.S.
“At the press conference with President Obama, every time a reporter addressed Pope Francis as ‘Your Holiness,’ the president answered the reporter,” Cruz quipped to raucous applause.
Cruz observed that this was a time of hope for the American people who are finally waking up to the disastrous years of the Obama presidency. He then listed the first 10 steps that he would take if elected president, including reneging on the president’s Iran nuclear deal, instructing Congress to investigate Planned Parenthood, and ordering the Department of Justice and the IRS to stop “persecuting” American citizens for exercising their religious liberties.
Cruz has long been a favorite of social conservatives who, for the third straight year, garnered the top spot in the straw poll at the Voter Values Summit. This year, Cruz received 35 percent of the approximately 1,200 votes cast at the event sponsored by the conservative Family Research Council, run by former presidential contender Gary Bauer. Ben Carson came in second place this year with 18 percent of the vote, and Marco Rubio placed fourth with 13 percent. Real estate magnate Donald Trump garnered only 5 percent, and Jeb Bush was a distant 12th with only seven votes.
In this Sept. 25, 2015 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speak in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) 
