Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced his 2016 presidential candidacy on Twitter at midnight Monday morning and then followed up the announcement with an epic speech at Liberty University in Virginia, aiming to inspire future generations of Americans.
On a conference call with conservative bloggers, Cruz said that he himself was inspired by “energy and passion” that the 12,000 “young people” in attendance exuded during his Monday morning address.
Cruz said that his campaign has received unprecedented and “overwhelming support” from those at the grassroots level, adding that this support reminded him of when he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, where his senatorial campaign enjoyed support from an “incredibly diverse coalition” of Tea Party activists, Republican women, and business owners.
I asked Sen. Cruz about the support he has received in Florida and what his thoughts were about why and how he was being able to garner the support of the same grassroots that once supported Senator Marco Rubio during his historic Senate win over Charlie Crist in 2010.
“The support we have been receiving in Florida has been breathtaking,” said Cruz, adding that he has been seeing this kind of support across Florida and the country.
There are some good people in Florida. I like and respect Jeb Bush. Marco Rubio is a friend of mine, and I like and respect him as well, but I do think people are hungry for strong conservative leadership that will tell the truth, and do what we say we will do.-Sen. Ted Cruz
In regards to the the “birther” issue surrounding his former dual citizenship, Cruz took time to dismantle the argument that he was not eligible to be president in the U.S. because he was born in Canada.
Cruz stated that the “legal question is quite clear,” arguing that there was no “legal matter, there is no substance there,” when trying to make the case against his eligibility, adding that the law precisely says that any child of a U.S. citizen that is born abroad qualifies as a U.S. citizen.
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