Who Is Ted Cruz? How Did He Raise $500,000 In One Day After Announcing Candidacy For Republican Nomination For 2016 Presidential Election?

After just one day of announcing his candidacy to run for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Ted Cruz has already raised $500,000 in campaign money, according to NBC News. Apparently, a lot of people know him and believe that he would make a good candidate for the Republican Party and eventually a good President of the United States. Just hours after his announcement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, Cruz has already found favor from large donors. What’s fascinating is that he quickly received funds through online donations. That certainly wasn’t the case with many presidential candidates in the past.

But who is Ted Cruz?

Ted Cruz’s real name is Rafael Edward Cruz, who was born in Canada on December 22, 1970. The 44-year-old junior United States Republican Senator from Texas is of Hispanic and Cuban descent. He is a Princeton University and Harvard Law School graduate. Cruz is also a Southern Baptist. That is why he made his announcement at Liberty University, the world’s largest Christian school.

Ted Cruz was the first from either party to officially make an announcement. For that reason, he and his wife, Heidi, appeared on the Today show and was interviewed by Matt Lauer the day after his announcement.

The question has come up and will likely come up again about Cruz running for president since he was born in Canada. According to Politifact, legally, he can run for President of the United States, but like President Barack Obama, the birthplace of Cruz will likely have to be explained over and over again. Since Cruz was born in Canada and his mother was born in the United States, he has dual citizenship. The senator has already provided his birth certificate that shows his mother was born in Delaware, and his father was born in Cuba. Because his mother was born in the United States, Cruz became an American citizen and is therefore eligible to run for president. To minimize confusion, Cruz has started the process to renounce his Canadian citizenship.

Just one day after Cruz’s announcement, critics began weighing in. So far, his number one critic is Rand Paul, who, according to the Washington Times, will make his official announcement in April. Paul attacked Cruz for being unable to spread his message beyond his audience, made up of Christian students who were required to attend. Liberty students were threatened to be fined if they did not attend Ted Cruz’s speech, according to the Huffington Post.

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