Dozens of people lined up at Bethesda’s Tastee Diner on Monday morning for an opportunity to meet former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, who’d come to urge voters to support Ted Cruz.
“There’s a big important primary on Tuesday,” Fiorina told the crowd, which included supporters from around the state and local high school students interested in the spectacle if not the politics. “And Republicans have a big important choice to make between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, and Donald Trump should not be our nominee. I’m not even sure he’s a Republican. Ted Cruz is a conservative who can beat Hillary Clinton and that’s why I’m here.”
The Maryland presidential primary is April 26. Voters in New York will make their primary selections Tuesday.
Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett Packard and a presidential hopeful who dropped out of the race in February, arrived at the restaurant before 11 a.m. and left at about noon.
Janet Jahacke of Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, came to the event after she heard about it through a campaign email, but said she has been supportive of Fiorina for some time. “I’ve followed Carly Fiorina for many years,” she said. “I voted for her as a representative in California, and I believe she’s a very good person.”
Bill Baker, who came from his home in Hagerstown for the event, also said he appreciated the chance to see Fiorina. “It was great to meet her in person,” he said. “This is a very energetic election year.”
Walter Johnson High School junior Patrick Collishaw said he also wanted to meet Fiorina even if he didn’t agree with her politics. He said his teacher didn’t mind him leaving class early to attend the event.
“It’s cool to meet someone you see on TV,” he said. “We just wanted to get a glimpse.”
About two dozen students from nearby Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School walked over during their open lunch period. Sophomore Dassy Smolianski was in a group that carried signs linking Ted Cruz to the infamous Zodiac killer—the unidentified serial killer who operated in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s–in response to an Internet meme and suggesting Cruz and Donald Trump were both comparably bad options.
“We’re not supporters,” Smolianski said, as her classmates questioned why Fiorina decided to visit an area with a largely liberal high school population during lunchtime. “We thought it would be fun.”
Another student asked Fiorina to prom as she left Tastee Diner. Fiorina said “yes” out of apparent courtesy, though she didn’t seem too selective. “I’d take anyone to prom,” she said.
