Sen. Cruz Will be the First to Throw his Hat in the Presidential Ring

According to sources close to the Texas senator, Ted Cruz plans to disclose that he is running for the White House on Monday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The senator also hopes that his early campaign entry would attract more voters on his side.

 

Mr. Cruz is the first presidential candidate to officially disclose his White House plans in a mainly-GOP presidential primary that is expected to get very crowded since more than a dozen Republicans expressed their interest in the presidential run in various ways.

 

Mr. Cruz’s advisers also said that he will unveil his candidacy in absence of an exploratory committee. It seems that Mr. Cruz will heavily rely on his impressive oratory skills and unique personal style during the presidential run. People already see him as a conservative watchdog willing to bite any congressional Republican that fails to concede to his conservative views.

 

But, the senator’s most impressive achievement was the nearly-two-weeks government shutdown amid fierce debates on Obamacare Mr. Cruz had stirred in 2013. The dispute was eventually settled through his 21-hour Senate speech.  He has also earned voters’ support due to his consistent criticism of the Obama administration.

 

But, a recent public poll shows that, although Ted Cruz is very popular among conservatives and tea party supporters, he isn’t much loved by GOP members. A recent survey on GOP sentiment about his future presidential bid shows that Mr. Cruz gets support from only 4 percent of Republicans or Republican supporters.

 

On the other hand, Jeb Bush scores considerably better with his 16 percent, while Scott Walker got a 13 percent.

 

This month, Mr. Cruz won the hearts of thousands of conservatives in his early state tours in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Iowa. During the meetings with his voters, he approached controversial issues, criticized President Obama and Hilary Clinton on various issues, while he also urged voters to contest other Republicans’ words and closely scrutinize their actions.

“It’s easy for candidates to give an answer. The proof is in the pudding. What I’ve urged Republicans to ask of every candidate is: Have you walked the walk? Show me your record,”

he told his New Hampshire voters earlier this month.

On March 28, he will return in New Hampshire as he had promised on March 15 in a “Strafford County GOP”-led event open to the public. Back then he was very discreet about his White House plans, saying that he was pondering on the matter “very, very seriously” and advised his voters to simply “stay tuned.”

The first-term senator is expected to be questioned about his expertise, just like Barack Obama was in 2008. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, who are also first-term senators running for presidential nomination, will most likely also face tough questions on experience.

In 2012, he ran for the Senate as an almost unknown candidate but managed to force Republican-backed Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst into a unexpected runoff and won the primary.

Before the 2012 campaign, Mr. Cruz served as solicitor general in Texas. He graduated from Harvard Law School and he is the offspring of a racially mixed family.