LYNCHBURG, Va. — Conservative firebrand Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president Monday, urging a supportive, raucous crowd of 10,000 students at Liberty University to “imagine” a better future and join him in “reigniting the promise of America.”
“God’s blessing has been on America since the very beginning of this nation. And, I believe God isn’t done with America yet. I believe in you, I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of America, and that is why, today, I am announcing that I’m running for president of the United States,” Cruz said, to a standing ovation.
“It is a time for truth, it is a time for liberty, it is a time to reclaim the Constitution of the United States. I am honored to stand with each and everyone of you, courageous conservatives as we come together to reclaim the promise of America,” he said, as he wrapped up a 30 minute address punctuated by several rounds of applause.
The first term Texas senator became the first Republican to officially declare for 2016 during a half hour speech that touched on his personal story as the son of an over-achieving professional mother from Delaware and a father who fled to the U.S. from Cuba to escape the island nation’s totalitarian regime. It was Cruz’s second appearance at Liberty, a Christian college founded in 1971 by iconic evangelical pastor Jerry Falwell.
The charismatic 44-year-old Texan captured the imagination of the Tea Party movement over the past four years on the strength of uncompromising rhetoric and opposition to all things Washington and President Obama. Launching his White House bid in front of a capacity crowd of young people inside Vines Center arena on Liberty’s campus offered the perfect fit for Cruz’s next phase, a campaign built on aspirations of the next generation.
And that generation liked what they heard, at least here in Lynchburg, Va. Still, this educated crowd wondered how far Cruz might go in a general election campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, if he succeeds in winning the nomination.
“I think he’s got a lot of good ideas. I like his policies. I think he’s got the right vision. My problem is I think he’s going to be too divisive in a general election,” said Liberty University student Joseph Krmpotich, 20. “I think he’s going to be really good in a primary because he’ll keep the other candidates honest, he’ll keep them on message. I don’t know that he’ll win a general election.”
The scene at Liberty for the Cruz announcement is sure to make it into the television ads and campaign videos to come. Cruz spoke on stage in the center of a circular arena before an audience that was clearly taken with him and his broadly conservative message, roaming rather speaking before a lectern, as is the senator’s typical style. The setting and atmosphere could easily be mistaken for a Sunday mega-church service in suburban Houston, the senator’s hometown.
Liberty officials said Cruz’s presidential announcement during a session of the university’s thrice-weekly mandatory convocations was a first. Cruz related his faith in Jesus Christ and how it brought his wayward father back into his life; proposed abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and proposed replacing the progressive tax structure with a flat tax; and asked the crowd to “imagine” a president who stands with Israel, generating perhaps his biggest standing ovation of the morning.
Cruz sought to weave his personal story together with the story of the founding of America, the rough patch the U.S. has gone through in recent years, and the future he would chart for the country as president. Midway through the address, reminiscent of John Lennon’s classic song, “Imagine,” Cruz began asking his audience to “imagine” a different future, saying it’s not any more farfetched than America’s victory over the British in 1776.
“Imagine, instead of economic stagnation, booming economic growth; Cruz said. “Imagine young people coming out of school with four, five, six job offers.”
“Imagine innovation thriving on the Internet as government regulators and tax collectors are kept at bay and more and more opportunity is collected. Imagine America finally becoming energy self-sufficient,” Cruz said. “Imagine in 2017, a new president signing legislation repealing every word of Obamacare.”
Cruz announcement happened to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.
