March 23, 2015, 3:55 p.m.
Ted Cruz, a charismatic conservative senator from Texas, is the first Republican to officially announce his candidacy for the party's presidential nomination, effectively starting the 2016 primary race.
Washington: Ted Cruz, a charismatic conservative senator from Texas, is the first Republican to officially announce his candidacy for the party's presidential nomination, effectively starting the 2016 primary race.
Mr Cruz made the announcement via Twitter shortly after midnight on Monday, local time.
He tweeted the announcement hours before he was expected to officially declare his run during a speech at Liberty University in Virginia.
Mr Cruz is a star among the Tea Party right of the GOP, who has made himself as famous for hounding his own party's establishment as for opposing Obama administration policies.
He delighted his supporters by forcing the government shutdown in 2013, widely seen as a tactical catastrophe for congressional Republicans, and backs populist conservative policies such as abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and stripping power from regulatory bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. He does not believe that human activity is causing climate change.
In a 2011 interview he described America's social security safety net for the elderly as Ponzi scheme and outlined a plan to reduce and privatise it.
Reflecting the views of some on the far right of American politics he has publicly mused about the threat of creeping Sharia law and said that he would like to the see the federal attorney general, Eric Holder, impeached.
But unlike other insurgents, his sometimes-radical positions do not appear to have ruled him out of contention for the nomination even though he is running ninth in polls of likely candidates. He is viewed as a brilliant debater and shrewd campaigner who has met with resounding success in both his legal and political careers.
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Ted Cruz, the Tea Party Republican, is about to announce his run for US president