Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Grafton County Republican
Committee's Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner in Lincoln, N.H., on Sunday, March
15, 2015.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
will announce his presidential campaign Monday, becoming the first
major presidential candidate to officially enter the 2016 race.
Aides to the Republican senator tell ABC News he will make the
announcement during the convocation speech at Liberty University, a
Christian college in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Monday morning. News of the
announcement was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.
Cruz, 44, is the first major candidate to enter what is expected to be a
crowded Republican primary field that will likely include former
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. By announcing his candidacy, the Texas senator will skip the exploratory process many presidential candidates undergo.
Cruz's announcement will officially kick off the 2016 presidential race. Several candidates, including Paul and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are expected to announce their presidential campaigns in April.
The Texas senator has made frequent trips to the early primary states
over the last two years as he's mulled his presidential bid. He's
traveled to Iowa nine times, New Hampshire five times, and South
Carolina five times since 2012.
WHO IS TED CRUZ?
Cruz rose to political stardom in 2012 as a Tea Party candidate who
secured the Republican nomination in the Texas Senate primary against
then Lt. Gov. Ted Dewhurst, the establishment-backed candidate. In
November of that year, Cruz won the Senate seat and is currently serving
in his third year in the Senate.
He has been an outspoken critic of President Obama’s immigration and
healthcare plans. In 2013, he led a 21-hour filibuster on the Senate
floor in protest against Obamacare just days before a government shutdown.
Cruz, a Cuban-American, was born in Calgary, Canada
to an American mother and a father who fled Cuba in the 1950's. Cruz
held dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship until 2014 when he formally
renounced his Canadian citizenship.
Cruz received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and
graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. From 2003 to 2008, he
served as solicitor general in Texas.
Despite being a first-time presidential candidate, Cruz has some
experience in national campaigns. In 2000, he served as a domestic
policy adviser on George W. Bush’s presidential campaign.
Cruz has also worked at the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department, in addition to clerking for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
Cr : ABC News
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