Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz, Jr. (born December 22, 1970) is an American politician. He is the junior United States Senator representing the state of Texas. He is the first person of Cuban or Latino descent to hold the office. He ran for President as a Republican in 2016.

Early life
Cruz was born to a Cuban Father, Rafael Cruz, and American mother, Eleanor Darragh, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His parents, who worked in the oil business at the time, were in Calgary on business. His father, Rafael Cruz, was born in Cuba and had been fighting against dictator Fulgencio Batista alongside Fidel Castro. Rafael Cruz would later be against Castro after he became a dictator himself. He was raised in Wilmington, Delaware and in Houston, Texas. Cruz studied at Princeton University and at Harvard Law School.

Early career
Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz was the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate deputy attorney general at the United States Department of Justice, and as domestic policy advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign.

He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, after being appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.  He was the first Hispanic, the younger and the longest-serving solicitor general in Texas history. Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, from 2004 to 2009. While there, he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation. Cruz is one of three Latinos in the Senate; the others—also Americans of Cuban ancestry—are fellow Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

U.S. senator (2013-present)
Cruz was the Republican nominee for the Senate seat vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. On July 31, 2012, he defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff, 57%–43%. Cruz defeated former state Representative Paul Sadler in the general election on November 6, 2012. He won to 56%–41% over Sadler. Cruz openly identifies with the Tea Party movement and has been endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus.

On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cruz has been a leading opponent of Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan known as Obamacare. He has led efforts to repeal the law.

2016 presidential race

On March 23, 2015, Cruz announced he would run for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. He made his announcement at Liberty University.

On February 1, 2016, Cruz won the first primary state of Iowa beating Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. Since then, Cruz has won Alaska, Texas, and Oklahoma on "Super Tuesday". On April 27, 2016, Cruz named former GOP candidate and businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his running mate.

On May 3, 2016, after losing the Indiana primaries to Donald Trump, Cruz suspended his campaign.

References

Other websites

 U.S. Senator Ted Cruz – official website
 Ted Cruz for President – campaign website
 Ted Cruz collected news and commentary at The Texas Tribune

1970 births
Living people
United States senators from Texas
2016 United States presidential candidates
Politicians from Calgary
US Republican Party politicians
Politicians from Houston, Texas
Politicians from Austin, Texas