Republican leaders, including a number of Latinos, used their national platform to make their case for a Romney presidency while at the same time reassuring Hispanics they are indeed welcome in the party.

Mitt Romney’s campaign should appeal to “conservative values: faith, family, hard work, responsibility” in making his case to Latino voters, Ted Cruz, the Republicans’ latest rising star, said Sunday.

Onetime long shot Ted Cruz won the Republican nomination in a U.S. Senate race in Texas on Tuesday, providing tea party activists with renewed momentum in what they said was their biggest victory of the year.

In Texas, where voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, politics can be brutal.

He’s being touted as the Marco Rubio of Texas, an up-and-coming Latino politician with solid Tea Party backing. Ted Cruz, 41, is in a close race to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison as the next U.S. senator from Texas.