Cruz volunteer: “He is the answer”

Notable Endorsements: U.S. Rep. Jody Hice; Former Atlanta Tea Party Founder Julianne Thompson; State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens, state Sen. Josh McKoon as well as other state legislators and activists such as Kay Godwin and Pat Tippett

Recent Visits: Cruz is set to headline a rally Saturday in Atlanta

*Source: Federal Election Commission Reports through Dec. 31, 2015

A middle-aged African-American man entered the vestibule of the Fayette County GOP office late on the morning of President’s Day. Next door, the Georgia phone bank for the Ted Cruz campaign was crackling to life.

So, when the man poked his head in the Cruz office to softly ask for help finding information about Donald Trump, Denise Ognio - perhaps the most enthusiastic Cruz supporter in Fayette County - saw an opportunity for conversion.

“No, no. Come on over here. We want you to be for Cruz,” Ognio, 58, said.

“Yeah, come on in,” she said, beckoning him toward the Cruz office. When he didn’t, she walked the man over to the GOP office. The whole time she talked about Cruz. In the end, she didn’t get a commitment for her candidate, but Ognio (pronounced OH-gin-oh) didn’t think her effort was wasted. As she sees it, Cruz is “non-faltering, he’s unwavering, he’s just steady ever on,” which is how she delivers the Cruz message to anyone who might be a potential Cruz voter. It’s a message she delivers with enthusiasm, both audibly and visually. The day before, she and a group of volunteers had turned the relentlessly beige office into a red and white concession stand for everything Cruz, including copies of pocket-sized Constitutions with Cruz on the cover.

To Ognio’s mind, every opportunity to speak up for Cruz is a chance to speak up for the kind of America she believes a Cruz coalition can build; one ruled by the literal word of the Constitution and guided by Christian precepts.

“His boss is God and God is in control of his life so, because God is his boss, Ted Cruz is who I want to lead this country,” Ognio said of her candidate.

“She’s one of our best,” said Brant Frost V, Georgia Grassroots Coordinator for the Cruz campaign. “She’s not letting up until they say, ‘yes.’”

Ognio works in accounting at a local staffing firm, but has been devoting a significant amount of her off time toward getting Cruz to be her party’s nominee. A Tea Party member and president of the Greater Fayette Republican Women’s Club, Ognio first heard Cruz speak in Georgia about six years ago at a convention for the Georgia Federation for Republican Women. The Tea Party had a full head of steam, and Cruz was pumping up its message. When he spoke, Ognio said, she was convinced of his sincerity and believed he was actually going to be the conservative standard bearer that other candidates gave lip service to.

“Everything he said was from the heart,” Ognio said.

As candidates emerged for the 2016 presidential race, she and her husband, Randy, a Fayette County commissioner, heard several of them out including, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Trump. They personally talked with Rubio, Carson and Trump at the South Carolina Freedom Summit last year. They put each candidate through their own point-check system. Who had the toughest stance on illegal immigration (“I don’t have a problem with people coming into the country legally,” Denise Ognio said. “I love and appreciate those people.”)? Who would get rid of Obamacare? Who will best support the military?

“We keep coming back to [Cruz],” Ognio said. “I believe he will lead us out of a lot of the things that are wrong. “Like on Day One, Day One, when he first sits behind that desk, he says he’ll strike Obamacare out of existence and I believe he will.”

So enamored of Cruz’s message is she that she and her husband led a team of volunteers who planned Cruz’s Victory tour campaign stop in Newnan last year. At first Ognio was told to plan for 50 people. Within days the count swelled to more than 1,000.

“We stepped up,” Ognio said.

They secured hundreds of traffic cones to help with traffic; had hundreds of bottles of water on hand and even some dessert for the Cruz campaign staff. It was one of her proudest moments.

“It was such a huge, feel-good moment for me to help him,” Ognio said. “I do believe he is the answer. He has the knowledge and the experience to lead this nation out of where Obama has taken it, to be a conservative, Christian nation.”

She understands that the nation is made up of people who observe many faiths and she believes her candidate will be fair to people regardless of faith. Just as she believes Cruz will address illegal immigration, a problem she said her candidate is realistic enough to realize can’t be solved overnight or with an instant wall.

So, not long after the would-be Trump supporter left, she picked up a phone on the phone bank and started making calls, reading from a script.

“Good morning, My name is Denise. I’m a volunteer with Ted Cruz for President. Right now, we’re just wondering if we can count on your vote for Ted in the Republican primary?”

The voter on the other end said he was planning to vote for Trump. It didn’t stop Ognio from telling him all the reasons why he should reconsider.