Trump Should Drop Out if He Doesn't Get Majority in New York, Cruz Campaign Manager Says

— -- Ted Cruz’s campaign manager is calling on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump to drop out of the race if he fails to clinch a majority in his home state primary later this month.

“If he doesn’t get over 50 percent, he should probably consider dropping out, like everyone else has when they don’t win their home state in a dramatic fashion,” Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe said in an interview on ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Thursday.

While quipping that he doesn’t expect the GOP frontrunner to take his advice, Roe also acknowledged that Trump is the “huge favorite” headed into the New York primary and that it is an “away game” for Cruz, who did little to invite the New York vote when earlier in the campaign cycle he criticized Trump for having “New York values.”

“I’m assuming Donald is very strong in his home state,” Roe said.

Still, Roe said the campaign sees a path for Cruz to walk away with at least some delegates from the Empire State through a targeted strategy of focusing on so-called “orphan districts” with low levels of GOP participation, where the campaign hopes the Texas senator may be able to sway the small number of active Republican voters.

“Hopefully we’ll come out with a pretty good cut of the delegates there,” Roe said.

He also defended Cruz’s controversial “New York values” comments, explaining that the candidate was referring to the Democrat-dominated New York City government, where he said liberals are “different creatures.”

“People know what New York values means,” Roe said, referencing strict gun control measures and healthy eating guidelines in the city as examples.

“It’s a big city, liberal government that does a lot of crazy stuff and their values are not in touch there as they are in other places,” he continued. “The liberals there are different creatures and that’s what he was talking about … and Donald Trump has funded all those people.”

While the Cruz campaign is preparing for the possibility of a contested convention, with Roe calling it the most likely scenario, Roe said Cruz can “absolutely” reach the 1,237 delegate majority threshold of the nomination with “a lot of ball left to be played here.”

“People are quick to say we’re going to Cleveland,” Roe said. “Of course that is a potential and we’re preparing for that as well but this hasn’t played out at all and I think there are still some surprises left.”

Cruz would need to win 87 percent of the delegates still up for grabs to clinch the nomination ahead of Cleveland, while Trump would need 60 percent.

It’s a steep climb for Cruz, but Roe said it could all come down to California, where there are 172 delegates up for grabs in the state’s June 7 primary.

“It all comes down to California as well,” he said. “You put a two-thirds whooping on somebody, a lot of things can happen.”