Ben Carson launched his presidential bid at a music hall in Detroit, Mich., on Monday. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, first announced his candidacy on Sunday evening in an interview with an Ohio television station in advance of his formal rollout.
He took the stage with his wife after several musical performances, including an African-American choir’s performance of rap artist Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Carson spoke about his upbringing in Detroit and life on the streets, reminiscing about when his “favorite drug dealer” was killed and how his mother instilled in him the importance of an education.
“Now that I’ve introduced my family, you say who are you? I’m Ben Carson and I’m a candidate for president of the United States,” Carson said. “It’s time for the people to rise up and take the government back.”
Carson has never held elective office and rose to prominence after criticizing President Obama’s health care policies at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, just steps away from the president. The Wall Street Journal then published an editorial titled, “Ben Carson for President.” On Monday, the Detroit native took that advice to heart and prayed with a group of pastors over breakfast before announcing his decision.
Carson is a prolific author who has developed a devoted following among conservatives, and has developed a public profile through media appearances and speeches aimed at conservative audiences. Carson kicked off the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., by criticizing double standards regarding race.
“If you’re white and you oppose a progressive black person, you’re racist; but if you’re black and you oppose the progressive agenda, then you’re crazy,” Carson said at CPAC.
The 63-year-old renowned neurosurgeon becomes the only African American running for president in either major party, and enjoys a pre-existing base of support from some evangelical Christians and Tea Party enthusiasts. He was also the favorite potential Republican presidential candidate of voters under 30 in a poll conducted by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics last month.
Carson preached a message of personal responsibility and spoke out against the recent riots in Baltimore, Md., following the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who died while being transported by police to a nearby station. Before formally announcing his decision to run for president this morning, Carson spoke outside an African-American history museum in Detroit. Carson worked for more than two decades in Baltimore, rising through the ranks to become the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University.
“I believe that the real issue here is that people are losing hope and they don’t feel life is going to be good for them no matter what,” Carson said. “Stop being loyal to a party or a man and use your brain to think for yourself that is really the key to us as a nation becoming successful again.”
Caron’s faith may be central to his campaign. As a Seventh Day Adventist, he does not believe in evolution, instead believing that the Bible teaches the earth was created in six days. An opponent of gay marriage, he has come under fire for statements made on CNN, in which he said being homosexual is a choice, and pointed to prisoners who entered jail straight but had sex with people of the same gender as evidence his argument was correct. Carson will need to avoid similar dustups and show he can transfer the early momentum he has garnered into a focused campaign.
Carson indicated that he does not plan on running as a traditional politician. “I’m not politically correct, and I’m probably never going to be politically correct because I’m not a politician and I never want to be a politician because politicians do what is politically expedient and I want to do what’s right,” Carson said.
Carson had planned on holding a rally in Iowa later today, but cancelled it and reportedly plans to travel home and visit his ailing mother instead. Carson learned yesterday that his mother might die within a few days, according to the Washington Post.
If he wins the GOP nomination, Carson will make history as the Republican Party’s first African-American presidential nominee. But he already made history on Monday. Draft Ben Carson Committee founder John Philip Sousa IV told the Detriot News that Carson is the first candidate successfully drafted for president since Republican Barry Goldwater, one of the early standard-bearers of the modern American conservative movement, in 1964.
