Ted Cruz is not only campaigning on New York's campaign trail, he's also working behind the scenes to win the support of some members of the state's Republican establishment. Zack Fink filed the following report.

While polls show both Ted Cruz and John Kasich badly trailing Donald Trump in New York, his supporters are optimistic after his strong showing in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, saying the candidate is establishing an organizational beachhead in the Empire State.

"Sen. Ted Cruz is the only candidate who is actually opening campaign offices, who is working with activists at the grassroots level and has quietly been putting together a strategic campaign for tactical strike here in New York," said Jason McGuire of New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms.

But Trump still has the strongest organizational support among Republicans in New York State.

Assemblyman Bill Nojay chairs the Trump campaign.

"So far, we haven't seen a Ted Cruz organization in New York State. It might appear in the next couple of weeks. But New York is a big state. We have been laying the foundation for Mr. Trump's campaign for over four months now," Nojay said.

While evangelical Christians aren't considered a huge voting bloc, McGuire says there are roughly 640,000 evangelicals in New York who are motivated to vote in the upcoming primary.

"The evangelical vote is going to be huge in this primary," McGuire said. "And the idea that we have a candidate who won our straw poll just a few weeks ago. Ted Cruz won 71.25 percent of that straw poll with 500 ballots passed. That's a significant straw poll."

"Ted Cruz is clearly appealing to the evangelical vote, the religious conservatives. That's always going to be a part of his base," Nojay said. "But Trump is appealing to a wide demographic. Not only Republican voters, but independent voters, blue-collar Democrats."
 
Cruz will be in the Albany region Thursday, his first appearance here since the campaign began. It's a rare moment for upstate to be part of the presidential battlefield, at least for the next two weeks.