Texas senator and anti-immigration stalwart Ted Cruz rallied conservative New Yorkers at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser Wednesday night. The Cuban-American lawmaker is one of the most outspoken opponents of the bipartisan immigration reform bill currently under debate in the Senate.

Cruz is well known for his Tea Party leanings, and he laid out a vision for a Republican-led America that shied away from vitriol and blame while still clinging to the core GOP platform.

"It is very easy for Republicans to feel demoralized right now, but change happens fast, like lightning in politics. I am profoundly optimistic for this country because our ideas work," Cruz said. "Freedom works."

Cruz did acknowledge the party's poor showing in last year's presidential election, in which 71 percent of Latinos voted for their opponent, President Obama. He attributed that outcome to bad messaging.

"You know, a lot of Republicans have been agonizing why the November defeat turned out the way it did. I am going to suggest that the last election can be explained in 2 words: 47 percent," Cruz said, referring to Mitt Romney's infamous gaffe when he says nearly half of Americans take more than they make.

"The national narrative of the last election was the 47 percent of Americans who are not currently paying income taxes; who are in some ways depending on government; we don't have to worry about you. That's what was communicated in the last election. I've got to tell you that as a conservative I cannot think of an idea more opposite of what we believe. I think Republicans ought and should be the party of the 47 percent, Cruz said.

While that sentiment sounds more like a Democratic rallying cry, Cruz called for a return to Reagan-era economics, smaller government and less financial and industry regulation. Cruz called out other riding GOP stars he said embodied the vision of the Republican's patron saint.

"If you sit back and you list who are the brightest stars in the Republican Party, who are the most effective advocates for free-market principles, you come up with names like Marco Rubio, like Mike Lee, like Rand Paul, like Pat Toomey, like Scott Walker," Cruz said. "Five years ago, not a single one of them was in office. I refer to this new generation of leaders as the children of Reagan. We learned watching him."

And many of them hope to emulate Reagan's political success. Rubio and Paul have long courted speculation about their presidential ambitions, and rumors say Cruz himself formed an exploratory committee in recent months.

But not everyone was happy with what Cruz had to say.

Republican Representative Peter King of New York's Long Island boycotted Cruz's speech, citing the senator's refusal to approve aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy last fall. "Once I found it was him, I decided not to go. I don't know if I would have gone or not because of scheduling things, but that made it easy once I found out it was Ted Cruz," King said.

In addition, more than 100 protesters chanted outside Grand Central Station in Manhattan, decrying Cruz for his opposition to the immigration reform bill, which would provide a path to citizenship for many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

If Cruz noticed them, he didn't mention them, and his speech garnered wild applause.