Republican Senator Ted Cruz, his wife, Heidi, and their two daughters – four-year-old Catherine, left, and six-year-old Caroline, right – wave on stage after Mr. Cruz announced his presidential campaign on March 23, 2015, at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.ANDREW HARNIK/The Associated Press
The first major 2016 U.S. presidential candidate to announce is Canadian-born, a thorn in the side of his own party and so low in national polls of potential GOP candidates that he would be considered a longshot to win the Republican Party's nomination.
But that's not stopping Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. With a midnight tweet and a vow to "lead the fight" as "a new generation of courageous conservatives" aims to help make America great again, Mr. Cruz's presidential campaign is official. Here's what to watch for as Mr. Cruz steps in to a Republican leadership contest that is expected to draw more candidates in the coming months.
Ditching the "Canadian"
Ted Cruz will likely be questioned about his Canadian roots during the presidential campaign. Mr. Cruz has tried to pre-empt some of those questions by officially renouncing his Canadian citizenship on May 14, 2014.
The fact of that citizenship came as news to Mr. Cruz. In August, 2013, The Dallas Morning News ran a story that appeared to inform the Cruz camp that being born on Canadian soil entailed Canadian citizenship. Mr. Cruz released his Alberta birth certificate to the newspaper.
By doing so, Mr. Cruz aimed to show that by having at least one U.S.-born parent, his mother, he became a U.S. citizen instantly. But does that meet the criteria of the U.S. Constitution, which states that only "natural born citizens" can become president? Most legal experts agree that it does. Still, questions will linger – just as they did for Senator John McCain, another presidential candidate who was born in Panama and whose eligibility was challenged when he ran for president in 2008.
Wooing evangelical Christians
The site of Mr. Cruz's official presidential campaign launch on Monday was Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. It is a private, non-profit Christian university founded by the late Jerry Falwell – a man widely seen as putting the evangelical movement at the heart of Republican politics as far back as the 1980s, and whose support candidates routinely sought.
Mr. Cruz's path to the Republican nomination will go through early states like Iowa, where evangelical Christian voters have an outsized influence. In the 2012 Iowa caucuses, Republican voters in the midwestern state were 99 per cent white – and more than 50 per cent self-identified as born-again or evangelical, according to NPR. In that year, social conservative and evangelical Christian candidate Rick Santorum edged out Mitt Romney.
By kicking off his campaign at the country's leading evangelical Christian institution, Mr. Cruz is sending a strong message to Iowa voters about the kind of Republican candidate he aims to be.
A thorn in the Republican side
Mr. Cruz is a charismatic and punchy orator, able to deliver memorable lines in front of TV cameras, on social media and on the senate floor. He has described the Keystone XL pipeline project as a "no-brainer" when it comes to creating jobs – and that its opponents should clear the way. "If you are a bearded, tattooed, Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, Greenpeace environmental activist, you should love the Keystone pipeline," he said recently.
He has been one of the most strident Republican voices when it comes to repealing Obamacare and advocating for a more hawkish foreign policy. He has attacked President Barack Obama's use of executive action to halt deportations of undocumented Latinos.
All of those positions are, more or less, mainstream Republican politics. But the Harvard-educated lawyer still manages to ruffle the feathers of the party establishment – and is seen as quick to please the Tea Party faction that helped him win his senate seat.
His now-legendary 21-hour-long speech from the U.S. senate floor in September, 2013 – arguing to cut off Congressional funding to Obamacare – was a hit among Tea Party grassroots. It also included a memorable reading of the Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham for his daughters.
But his strategy was partly responsible for a government shutdown the following month – a shutdown and crisis that was widely blamed on Republicans and seen as avoidable.
Down in the polls
National polling of Republican voters puts Mr. Cruz well behind other likely GOP candidates. He trails front-runners like former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Senator Rand Paul.
By jumping into the contest first, Mr. Cruz can grab the spotlight and attention of Republican voters and shape the narrative early.
The 2016 campaign will be long and drawn out and the first hurdle, the Iowa caucuses, is still more than nine months away. Fundraising will be key. On that front, Jeb Bush is dominating as the early leader when it comes to amassing big donors.
Mr. Cruz could challenge him for the No. 2 spot – with an ability to raise small donations among grassroots supporters, argues political writer and analyst Mark Halperin. "What is not known: what kind of grassroots email and mailing lists does Cruz have and how potent will they be to raise small donations (such as those from donors who can give again and again all cycle)?" writes Mr. Halperin.
It's the same kind of strategy that helped Mr. Obama amass a fundraising war chest when he ran for the Democratic Party nomination in 2008.