Texas Senator and Republican Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz visited Oskaloosa Wednesday for a Town Hall style meeting at Smokey Row Coffee Shop.
Oskaloosa was the third stop for Cruz on Wednesday, as he continued his campaign swing through Iowa.
Cruz began his speech cracking jokes about President Barack Obama.
“The last two weeks, Pope Francis was in Washington,” said Cruz. “I will note, however, that the press conference in the White House the day before, it got awkward. Every time the reporters addressed a question to ‘Your Holiness,’ Obama would answer.”
Cruz also talked about what he would do on his first day in office.
“The first thing I intend to do in office is revoke every single illegal and unconstitutional executive action taken by this president,” Cruz stated.
Following his outline for his first set of goals and plans should he be elected to the Presidency, Cruz spoke to the conservative policies he would implement in his administration.
Following his 30 minute monologue, Cruz took a few questions from the sizeable crowd at the coffee shop.
The most notable question involved Cruz’s stance on ethanol based fuels. Cruz is among those who wants the ethanol mandate to be dissolved.
Cruz did say he had no problem with biofuels and encourages the producers to use the abundant resources of the land, but he also believes in free trade.
“I don’t think Washington should be deciding which energy products should be bought or sold,” according to Cruz. “I think we should pull out all the subsidies, not just ethanol, but across the board. Allow a level playing field and allow the marketplace to decide.”
He also shared the reaction from the ethanol producers to his stance at a summit earlier this year.
“This was the thousand largest ethanol producers in the state,” said Cruz. “I didn’t know if they’d throw tomatoes at me… The entire group burst into applause and when I left the stage, I got a standing ovation from the ethanol producers after telling them we should phase out the ethanol mandate.”
Cruz is currently positioned in the top six in most major national polls, and is among the leaders in Iowa.
The campaign leads up to the February 1st Iowa Caucus to kick off the nomination process.