US Senator Ted Cruz announces participation in 2016 presidential bid

Washington: Conservative US Senator Ted Cruz will fire the starting gun on the Republican race for the 2016 presidential election ticket tomorrow when he confirms plans to run for the White House. The far-right Texas Republican will announce his presidential bid – as opposed to forming a preliminary exploratory committee – at an event at Liberty University in Virginia, a source familiar with his plans told AFP. [caption id=“attachment_2159739” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  White House. Reuters.[/caption] Cruz, 44, will be the first Republican to officially confirm plans to run in the next presidential election, though others, including Jeb Bush, have signaled they could join the race. Cruz’s advisors told US media he will aim to raise between USD 40 million and USD 50 million for his campaign, and will rely on support from his conservative and libertarian Tea Party base that voted him in as senator in 2012. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last month, Cruz told the crowd that “2016 looks like it’s going to be a crowded race.” Republican Senators Rand Paul and Marco Rubio have also hinted at their own White House interests. Cruz has raised hackles in his own party in recent years when he helped push the US government into shutdown over budget fights, and for opposing Republican leaders on a series of issues. He is an outspoken critic of Barack Obama’s administration and its allies, and has already lashed out at potential presidential competitors from the Democratic party, including Hillary Clinton, who he said “embodies the corruption of Washington.” On his website, Cruz is described as “a passionate fighter for limited government, economic growth and the Constitution.” A CPAC straw poll conducted in February placed Cruz in third place as the party’s pick for president, behind Kentucky Senator Paul and Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Bush, former governor and the son and brother of former presidents, came in fifth. Cruz’s forthright conservatism and ideologically uncompromising positions have often seen him earn condemnation from leading figures within the Republican establishment. John McCain, the 2008 presidential candidate, once derided Cruz and two other Tea Party lawmakers as “wacko birds on the right.” The criticism however has rarely fazed Cruz. “I don’t work for the party bosses in Washington. I work for the people of Texas. And I fight for them,” Cruz said in a 2013 interview. A Texas-raised, Harvard-educated lawyer with a Cuban father and an American mother, Cruz joined George W. Bush’s legal team to argue the 2000 Florida presidential recount. He later served under Bush in the Justice Department and the US Federal Trade commission. AFP