LYNCHBURG, Va. — Senator Ted Cruz of Texas announced on Monday morning that he would run for president in 2016, becoming the first Republican candidate to declare himself officially in the race.
Linking the determination of his immigrant father with the resolve of the founding fathers and his own faith in “the promise of America,” Mr. Cruz spoke at length about his family and his faith as he laid out a case for his candidacy.
“God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation, and I believe God isn’t done with America yet,” Mr. Cruz said before thousands of cheering students here at Liberty University. “I believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to re-ignite the promise of America.”
“Today, I am announcing that I am running for president of the United States,” Mr. Cruz added. “It is a time for truth, it is a time for liberty, it is a time to reclaim the Constitution of the United States.”
His speech was packed with calls to “imagine a president” who would repeal the Affordable Care Act, abolish the Internal Revenue Service, “defend the sanctity of human life and uphold the sacrament of marriage.”
At times a history lesson — he invoked both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Patrick Henry — and at times a call to action, Mr. Cruz sought to position himself as the candidate who would give the Republican Party’s right wing the country they desire. He spoke directly to conservatives, with no real broad appeal to the more moderate wing of his party.
“The power of the American people when we rise up and stand for liberty knows no bounds,” Mr. Cruz said, before asking those in attendance to “break a rule” and text the word “Constitution” to his campaign.
With his two daughters and wife, Heidi, in attendance, Mr. Cruz opened his speech by providing a biography not of himself, but of his parents, and describing his connection to his faith.
Mr. Cruz told the story of his mom, a “little girl” growing up in Delaware who became a “pioneering computer programmer,” and his dad, the teenage rebel fighter in Cuba who fled at age 18 to America. Mr. Cruz was candid about his parents’ alcohol abuse and marital troubles, and he told the story of how his parents found their faith. He also presented himself as dedicated to hard work, noting he took two jobs to pay for school as a teenager and took out $100,000 in student loans, paying them off just a few years ago.
”There are people who wonder if faith is real,” Mr. Cruz said. “I can tell you, in my family there is not a second of doubt.”
Several Republicans said on Monday that given Mr. Cruz’s rhetorical skills and passion, and his ability to inspire restless or disenchanted conservatives and evangelical Americans, his candidacy should not be underestimated.
Or, as Steve Elmendorf, a veteran Democratic strategist and Washington lobbyist, put it on Monday: “The question for Republicans is: Can an unlikable candidate who holds positions unappealing for the general election be viable?”
Republican Party leaders in several states welcomed Mr. Cruz to the nominating contest, but they declined to analyze his chances since their primaries and caucuses are at least 10 months away.
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