Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz promised during a nighttime speech in his home state that he would kill the Affordable Care Act, “abolish” the Internal Revenue Service, stop amnesty and rebuild the military.

Shortly after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio effectively lost his home state and bowed out of the race, Cruz’s overarching theme was that “beginning tomorrow morning” the battle is between Cruz and Trump.

[Also: Trump releases broad outline of health reforms to replace Obamacare]

“When I’m President we will repeal every word of Obamacare,” Cruz said. “We will make Washington less relevant.”

Cruz continued that his top three priorities as President would be jobs, freedom and security.

The job creation issue spans many industries and Cruz was not particular to just healthcare, of course. Cruz pointed to the specific freedoms as religious beliefs and protecting citizens’ Second Amendment rights to own firearms. And when it comes to security he cited former Republican President Ronald Reagan and how he bolstered the military to win the Cold War as a model for how we would, if elected, take on ISIS.

Cruz also promised to reform the Internal Revenue Service by instituting a flat tax, ending amnesty and welfare benefits for people living in America illegally, and getting the government “off the backs” of small business owners across the country.

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“We’ll fire regulators,” Cruz explained. “Less government is more freedom.”

Although Ohio Rep. Governor John Kasich is still running, Cruz is calling it a two-candidate race at this point.

What with Trump’s 621 delegates versus Cruz’s 396 and primary elections in winner-take-all states such as California, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin still to come, it’s still too soon to say that either Cruz or Trump is precluded from winning the nomination ahead of the Republican National Convention come July 18-21, 2016.

Twitter: @SullyHIT