AP Source: Cruz taps Fiorina to serve as running mate

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz has tapped former technology executive Carly Fiorina to serve as his running mate.

The Texas senator plans to unveil his pick for vice president sometime after 4 p.m. today in Indianapolis. That's according to a Republican with direct knowledge of Fiorina's selection, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized speak before the official announcement.

"Carly is bright, knowledgeable, brings great financial expertise and she's a woman," said Gary Aminoff, the Los Angeles County co-chairman of the Cruz campaign. Aminoff said he had also been told Fiorina was Cruz's choice.

The 61-year-old Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, has been a prominent Cruz ally since shortly after abandoning her own presidential bid earlier in the year. She was the only woman in the Republican Party's crowded 2016 field.

"Of all the people who didn't make it far in the race, she was one of the best about laying out her plan, talking about who she is and her accomplishments," said Doug De Groote, a fundraiser for Cruz based near Los Angeles.

It was an unusual move for a candidate who is far from becoming his party's presumptive nominee, but Cruz is desperate to generate momentum for his struggling campaign. The fiery conservative was soundly defeated by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in all five primaries contests on Tuesday, and he's been mathematically eliminated from winning the nomination before his party's national convention in July.