Ted Cruz To Meet With Russian-Jewish Community In Brighton Today

Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is scheduled to meet with members of the Russian American Jewish Experience (RAJE) today at 4:30pm in Brighton Beach, the organization confirmed.

The meeting, first reported by the news site JP Updates, will take place at the Jewish Center of Brighton Beach, located at 2915 Ocean Parkway, and is expected to draw up to 150 members of the Russian-Jewish community, according to RAJE director Rabbi Mordechai Tokarsky.

The Texas senator’s arrival in Brighton Beach follows a stop yesterday in the Bronx where he took flack for his criticism of “New York values” and his strong anti-immigration stance, the Daily News reports. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Cruz trailing his GOP rival Donald Trump in the New York primaries by 36 points. Besides his comments on “New York values,” Cruz’s decision to vote against a Superstorm Sandy relief package and compensation for 9/11 victims is not likely to go over well with New Yorkers, NPR reports.

Still, Cruz’s visit will put him a stone’s throw away from neighbors in zip code 11229, which includes Gerritsen Beach and the northern half of Sheepshead Bay. That area had a larger share of Cruz donors than any other New York City neighborhood.

The senator’s wife, Heidi Cruz, was supposed to visit the Jewish Center of Brighton Beach last month, but the meeting was canceled so she could campaign for her husband in Wisconsin, according to the New York Post.