The Texas senator and former presidential candidate whose endorsement helped propel Republican Darryl Glenn across the finish line in the crowded U.S. Senate primary returned to Colorado Wednesday to support Glenn’s uphill battle to unseat Democrat Michael Bennet.

“It is entirely possible, 13 days from today, that control of the Senate will come down to the state of Colorado, and winning this seat,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told an enraptured crowd inside a Loveland hotel ballroom.

Discounting polls that show Glenn trailing Bennet by double digits, Cruz, who won the support of nearly every Colorado delegate to the Republican National Convention but ran a distant second nationally behind GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, argued that grassroots Republicans hold the key to a Glenn victory.

“The eyes of the entire country are on the state of Colorado,” Cruz said at the first of two Front Range rallies for Glenn. “Michael Bennet is the most vulnerable Senate Democrat in the entire country.” He added, “Our friends in the media are doing everything they can to convince you, ‘Pay no attention to this race.'”

Updating a well-worn trope, Cruz told the crowd, “I want you to vote for Darryl Glenn 10 times.” After the crowd reacted with mock horror, he continued: “We’re not Democrats, I’m not encouraging voter fraud. My name’s not John Podesta, and this isn’t WikiLeaks.” What he meant, Cruz hastily clarified, was that everyone in the room should vote and then encourage nine other people who wouldn’t have otherwise cast ballots to vote.

Glenn echoed Cruz’s enthusiasm.

“I am so optimistic that we’re going to win this,” the El Paso County commissioner told the crowd of around 200 supporters. “This is your opportunity to take this country back, ladies and gentlemen.”

Recalling how he campaigned in relative obscurity for more than a year before pundits and press even acknowledged he was in the race, Glenn predicted he would duplicate the same feat to win in November.

“So many people in the media are trying to dictate the course of this election,” he said, noting that he traveled the state meeting as many voters as possible. “We’ve cried with people, we’ve hugged them, we’ve looked them in the eyes. And there’s so many people that want us to stand up and fight and use our voice and say, ‘Enough is enough!’ Now is the time to take back our country, and that’s what’s going to happen.”

While Glenn surpassed Bennet in contributions in the most recent fundraising period – he posted $2.8 million for the third quarter, ahead of Bennet’s $2.2 million, although Bennet has raised $14.4 million total for the cycle, compared to Glenn’s $3.1 million – the Republican has struggled in the polls, and national Republicans haven’t invested in the race.

Bennet was leading Glenn by 18 points in a Quinnipiac University poll released a week before Cruz’s visit and led by 15 points in a poll released the same day by Magellan Strategies, a Colorado-based Republican firm, which also included Green Party nominee Arn Menconi and Libertarian candidate Lily Tang Williams, who polled at 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

“Darryl Glenn can bring whoever he wants to Colorado between now and Nov. 8, but it’s not going to change the fact that voters are going to reject Glenn on Election Day because they know he will add to dysfunction in Washington,” said Colorado Democratic Party spokesman Chris Meagher in a statement Wednesday.

Cruz, known for his uncompromising conservative stance in the Senate, praised Glenn for sharing a similar approach to government.

“We need Republicans in the United States Senate to remain in the majority as a check on the president of the United States,” he said at the Loveland rally, adding that it didn’t matter if Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton occupies the White House.

“Even if we have a Republican president, we still need a Republican Senate to be a check on the president, because that’s the constitutional responsibility of the Senate is to check the president, whether the president is a Republican or Democrat,” Cruz said.

“Let me tell you what else we need in the Senate – we need Republicans with backbone,” Cruz continued, and added that Glenn “has demonstrated he has backbone.” A moment later, after extolling Glenn’s background as an Air Force veteran, he said, “And I’ve got to tell you, we desperately need more Republicans, more conservatives, who will stand up and say, ‘Here I stand, and I’m not going to move.'”

Along with U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Greeley Republican and former prosecutor, who revved up the crowd before Glenn and Cruz spoke, the Republicans hammered Democrats and Bennet on similar points, including recently announced premium increases in some health insurance plans and Bennet’s support of the Iran nuclear deal.

“Obamacare’s so bad,” Cruz said, “it’s got the Samsung Galaxy people saying, ‘Wow, that’s really messed up, that’s on fire!'”

“I can tell you, on Day One, given the first opportunity, I’ll vote to repeal the Iran nuclear deal,” said Glenn, who also called for term limits on members of Congress, regulatory reform and tax cuts for corporations and individuals.

Speaking to his “brothers in the black and brown community” – Glenn is African-American – he ripped Democrats for taking minority voters for granted without delivering jobs or safe neighborhoods. “The people you’ve been voting for have been trying to keep you down, and enough is enough,” he said.

Colorado Republican Party Vice Chairman Derrick Wilburn might have stolen the show when he was introducing Buck and Cruz with some of his trademark quips.

“One thing I can tell you about Ken Buck, there will never be pictures showing up on the internet of him and some tall hookers in Peru doing cocaine,” Wilburn said to gasps and guffaws from the audience. “It’s not going to happen, because he is a man of principle first and party second, and we need more Ken Bucks.”

“Peruvian hookers, huh?” a smiling Buck said after embracing Wilburn on his way to the microphone. “Only Derrick Wilburn, my buddy, would go and say something like that. There’s a reason I don’t go on the radio any more with Derrick Wilburn – he scares me.”

Then, bringing Cruz to the stage, Wilburn recalled, “The first time I spoke a word to Sen. Ted Cruz in my entire life, first words out of my mouth, I said, ‘Senator, I want to kiss you right on the lips.’ True story.” (It happened, Wilburn added, the night of the Republican presidential debate a year ago in October, after Cruz had rebuffed aggressive questioning from the moderators.)

“Let me say,” Cruz responded, “that is one promise I’m glad you haven’t fulfilled.”

State Sen. Vicki Marble, R-Fort Collins, said after the rally that she was convinced Glenn would pull out a win over Bennet.

“He’s winning!” she said. “Darryl’s dynamic, he’s absolutely the most principled motivator in this race. I haven’t seen something like Darryl in a long time. You just get in a room with him, and you feel that vibe. For Colorado, he’s just what we need.”

Acknowledging that there’s plenty of work to do before Election Day – she said she’s spending her days chasing ballots as well as introducing Glenn to voters at an event she was throwing along with state Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono – Marble sounded hopeful.

“It is very tough for new people who don’t have statewide recognition to make it in a race like this, but, I guarantee you, if somebody takes the time to research Darryl, they will vote for Darryl,” she said. “He’s just got what it takes.”