Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin appeared on stage with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump on Tuesday, promising that he would "kick ISIS (Islamic State) ass."
Palin, after endorsing the real estate mogul in a statement, went on to appear with him at an Iowa campaign stop.
"Looking around at all of you, you hard working Iowa families, you farm families and teachers and teamsters and cops and cooks, you rock and rollers and holy rollers!" Palin told the crowd. "You all make the world go around and now our cause is one."
Using terms like "hallelujah," the former running mate of Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said she was "proud to endorse" Trump, and asked the crowd, "are you ready to stump for Trump?"
Trump stood beside her during the 20-minute speech, in which she praised him as "compassionate," "refreshing," and "self-made."
In response he thanked her, calling her "special" and "amazing," and noting, "this is a woman that, from Day 1, I said, 'If I ever do this, I have to get her support.'"
Palin's support comes as Trump is neck-and-neck with Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in Iowa, ahead of February 1 caucuses. Palin has been a leading figure in the Tea Party campaign, and previously she spoke favorably of Cruz, leading many to suggest the endorsement may harm his campaign.
However, Cruz remained unmoved by it, saying Tuesday, "regardless of what Sarah decides to do in 2016, I will always remain a big, big fan."
"I think it’d be a blow to Sarah Palin, because Sarah Palin has been a champion for the conservative cause, and if she was going to endorse Donald Trump, sadly, she would be endorsing someone who’s held progressive views all their life on the sanctity of life, on marriage, on partial-birth abortion," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said earlier.
Cruz and Trump traded blows in last week’s Republican presidential debate, after having largely refrained from direct confrontations in the race until now.