On Sunday March 22, Rafael Cruz, a Texas senator tweeted a 30 second video and announced something monumental. “I’m running for president and I hope to earn tour support!” Cruz tweeted, and with less than 140 characters, the presidential race for the 2016 election is already underway.
His first campaign video sent a strong message. The video featured picturesque views of cornfields and the Golden Gate Bridge, a little white church chapel at dusk, adorable children playing little league baseball and saying the Pledge of Allegiance in their classroom, and various scenes of the wind blowing Old Glory in all of her splendor—Cruz definitely covers all of the patriotic bases.
“It’s going to take a new generation of courageous conservatives to help make America great again, and I‘m ready to stand with you to lead the fight,” says Cruz as these images flash on the screen.
Cruz used twitter as his initial medium to announce his presidential bid. Within just a few hours the news took the Internet by storm.
“It’s a time for truth—a time to rise to the challenge, just as Americans have always done. I believe in America and her people, and I believe we can stand up and restore our promise,” Cruz continued to say on his video.
The next day he gave his announcement address at Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world, located in Lynchburg, Va. He asked the audience to imagine their parents as children. He went on to talk about both of his parent’s backgrounds. His mother was the youngest of 17 children, and she grew up in an Irish and Italian Catholic family during WWII. His father fought as a teenager in the Cuban revolution; he was thrown in jail and beaten before fleeing to the U.S. at age 18.
He went on to tell more about his family’s story—his wife comes from a missionary family, and he himself struggled to afford attending college and just recently paid off student loans.
“These are all of our stories. These are who we are as Americans,” Cruz went on to say. He focused on diversity and overcoming adversity.
His stance on many issues categorizes him as a conservative Republican—much of his speech at Liberty was in effects to rejuvenate the evangelical Christian wing of the Republican Party.
“From the dawn of this country, at every stage American has enjoyed God’s providential blessing. Over and over again, when we face impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. You know, compared to that, repealing Obamacare and abolishing the IRS ain’t all that tough,” Cruz said as he concluded his speech.
