US Election 2016 candidate profile: Ted Cruz, Republic
Candidate
Ted Cruz, Republic
Who Ted Cruz is
Rafael Edward Cruz is a US election 2016 Republican candidate who pitched his candidature by announcing his campaign on Twitter on March 23, 2015.
He was born to a Cuban father and an American mother in Canada and is considered as one of the most important members of the intellect group of the Tea Party movement. His journey into politics began during his high schooling in Houston when he was asked to memorise the US Constitution and recite it at public events as a member of the conservative program, the Constitutional Corroborators. He was also asked to speak about his conservative ideas in public sometimes.
After completing high school, Cruz acquired a Bachelor’s degree in 1992 in Princeton where he was a part of the successful university debate team, namely, the American Whig-Cliosophic Society. He became the US National Speaker of the Year in 1992 along with holding membership of the National Team of the Year. He also held the First Place Speaker at the North American Debate Championships.
Cruz moved to Harvard Law after that and became the founding general editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review and served as an editor to the same. Cruz acquired a law degree in 1995. In 1996, Cruz started as a private law practitioner for two years and then he joined the campaign run by then-future President George W. Bush where he was promoted to Domestic Policy Advisor in the campaign.
Bush’s Transition Team appointed Cruz to the Department of Justice Coordinator after he successfully conducted the president’s election campaign. In 2003, Cruz was appointed as the state’s Solicitor General, but resigned in 2008 and entered private practice once again in partnership with Houston-based Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
In 2010,Cruz was named as one of the “25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century” by the reputed weekly newspaper Texas Lawyer along with other publications like Chambers USA, Law 360 and Legal 500 that referred to him as one of the top appellate legal professionals in the nation.
What Ted Cruz wants
Cruz has specific views regarding tax cuts. He proposed a 10 percent flat tax on individual income from wages. He advocated elimination of tax and corporate income tax and replacing them with a 16 percent Business flat tax. At the same time, Cruz said that the social security and medicare amount should remain fully funded. The Republican candidate has critical views related to IRS and additional scrutiny when it came to providing tax-exempted status to conservative groups.
Who Ted Cruz is fighting against
Kentucky’s Rand Paul is likely to be a rival of Cruz, but the latter said he was looking forward to the competition coming from his friend from the same GOP wing.
