MILWAUKEE — A roomful of Wisconsin Republican Party faithful gave Ted Cruz a standing ovation on Friday night before offering Donald Trump surrogate Sarah Palin a chilly welcome.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, appearing with Cruz on stage for the first time since announcing his endorsement on Tuesday, embraced the Texas senator at the GOP’s Milwaukee County Fish Fry. Cruz now holds a double-digit lead over Trump in Wisconsin ahead of the state’s primary on Tuesday.
“My reasons are all about who I’m for, not about who I’m against,” said Walker to his home state crowd, taking a veiled shot at Republican front-runner Trump. “I think that’s important in Wisconsin — we like to be for something, not against something.”
Upon taking the microphone, Cruz then took several swipes at Trump, suggesting it’s “actually not fair to train wrecks” to compare the nomination of Trump to one. Trump is leading nationwide but plunged in the polls during the last week.
The hug from a Wisconsin governor to a Texas senator.
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) April 2, 2016
Cruz & Walker share the stage for the first time–> pic.twitter.com/4XUuRpcDja
Wisconsin has suffered a great loss of jobs and trade, but if I win, all of the bad things happening in the U.S. will be rapidly reversed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2016
Palin on if crowd responsed well to her in Milwaukee: "Well I think so–I didn’t get booed. You know–I don’t know." pic.twitter.com/vj7WXhz5yT
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— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) April 2, 2016
The response from the locals in attendance was not favorable to the former Alaska governor.
“If this is the energy level of the person that you send to represent you, that doesn’t bode well for people to vote for him on Tuesday,” said Carol Boettcher, a Republican from Cedarburg.
For her part, Palin said she “felt a lot of seriousness” in the crowd, “which is really good in a presidential race at this stage.” And when whether the crowd responded well to her, she added: “Well, I think so — I didn’t get booed.”
Emily Gold also contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Vaughn Hillyard is a senior White House reporter for MS NOW.
