CLEVELAND (CNN) – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz was booed by the crowd as he left the stage of the Republican National Convention Wednesday night.
There had been much speculation about whether Cruz would offer his endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Cruz did not offer that support to his former rival.
Cruz did offer his congratulations. He said, "Heidi and I are honored to join you here in Cleveland, where Lebron James just led an incredible comeback victory. I'm convinced America is going to come back too. I congratulate Donald Trump on winning the nomination last night.”
Cruz went on to talk about violence against police, violence against the U.S. and defeating Hillary Clinton. But he did not talk about endorsing Trump.
“We deserve leaders who stand for principle. Unite us all behind shared values. Cast aside anger for love. That is the standard we should expect, from everybody. And to those listening, please, don’t stay home in November," Cruz said. "Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution. It’s love of freedom that has allowed millions to achieve their dreams. Like my Mom, the first in her family to go to college, and my Dad, who fled prison and torture in Cuba, coming to Texas with just $100 sewn into his underwear.”
Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Rubio and Trump’s son, Eric Trump, spoke Wednesday night either in person or by video (Sen. Rubio).
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence also addressed the crowd.
All of this leads up to Donald Trump formally accepting the nomination with his acceptance speech on Thursday night.
Trump's family, his former competitors in the 2016 campaign and his new vice presidential nominee, Pence, will try to bring the Republican Party together Wednesday.
The third night of the GOP convention is a story of the running mate --- who will deliver a keynote speech --- and former rivals such as Cruz, Marco Rubio and Scott Walker, who will show good faith toward Trump, who vanquished them in the primaries. Trump's family will once again step forward to rally the nation to their father's side. His son, Eric, is slated to speak.
Walker, who pulled out of the presidential race before any votes were cast, offered a full-throated endorsement of Trump, urged all Republicans to vote for him and took a swipe at his Democratic foe.
"Let me be clear, a vote for anyone other than Donald Trump in November is a vote for Hillary Clinton," Walker said. "Hillary Clinton is the ultimate liberal Washington insider. If she were any more on the 'inside' she'd be in prison."
Trump is expected to appear on stage after Pence's speech, which would mark the nominee's third appearance at the convention this week.
In a dash of showmanship that emphasized his stature and flair for the dramatic, Trump touched down in Cleveland on his personal airplane earlier Wednesday and then flitted between the city's skyscrapers on his helicopter.
"I am convinced what begins in Cleveland will end in the White House," Indiana Governor Pence told Trump after he stepped off the helicopter to greet his children to the soundtrack of the movie "Air Force One."
Plagiarism
Before Trump arrived, his campaign finally moved to clear up the self-made plagiarism controversy that has hovered over the convention since his wife Melania's speech on Monday night.
Meredith McIver, a writer who works for the Trump organization, issued a statement saying she was responsible for including material from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech in Melania Trump's remarks.
She offered her resignation, but Trump declined, telling her "people make innocent mistakes," she wrote. The campaign hopes the move will put to rest a firestorm that has unnecessarily burned for the first two days of the convention, grabbing media coverage from an attempt to present a new image of the billionaire real estate magnate to a vast television audience.
The campaign recovered somewhat from its rocky start on Tuesday night, after a strong performance by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who fired up the crowd with a mock trial of Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump Jr., the billionaire's son, stepped onto the national political stage with a rousing address presenting his Dad as a champion of blue-collar workers.
But divisions carved in the GOP by Trump's barnstorming primary run are still apparent.
That's where Pence comes in. The vice presidential nominee will leverage his strong relationships with the GOP establishment and credibility among social conservatives to ease suspicion of Trump.
He is expected to try to sell Trump as the new Ronald Reagan, touting his similarities to the former Hollywood star who won the White House as an outsider.
A source close to Pence predicted he would offer a more uplifting brand of politics than has so far been evident at the convention and present Trump as the ideal man to grow the economy, flush out a rigged political system and destroy ISIS.
But even as Trump works to bring the party together, the simmering ambition of some of its most high-profile figures will also be on show on Wednesday night.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was runner up the primary, will address the convention amid intense speculation about whether he endorse Trump.
Cruz, who is hardly known as a unifying figure, will be keen not to alienate Trump supporters he might need in a future presidential run. Many of his own own backers, however, remain uneasy about Trump.
The Texas senator held a rally on the Cleveland waterfront on Wednesday afternoon --- and in a moment of irony was interrupted by Trump's jet swooping into land.
"That was pretty well orchestrated," Cruz quipped.