Candidate Profile: Ted Cruz

As candidates swarm to Iowa and Hampshire for the upcoming caucus and primary, respectively, Election Central continues its coverage, looking this week at Republican Ted Cruz.

Background

Born in 1970, Cruz is a Hispanic-American (his mother is an American of Italian and Irish heritage and his father is Cuban). Cruz was born in Canada and raised in Texas. He attended private school, where he graduated as valedictorian in 1988. Cruz then attended Princeton University for his undergraduate studies before enrolling at Harvard Law School for more education.

Cruz was part of George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 1999. He also played a big role on George W. Bush’s legal team that contested the voting count results during the extremely close 2000 presidential election that was decided by the Supreme Court case, Bush v. Gore.

Cruz was Solicitor General for the State of Texas from 2003 to 2008, where he supervised  all appellate litigation for the state Attorney General. After leaving that position, he resumed a private practice for four years before being elected to the United States Senate in 2012. Cruz has a wife, Heidi, and together they have two young daughters.

Stance

Cruz was the first Republican candidate to announce his intention to run for the party’s 2016 election nomination. Like most Republicans, Cruz supports limited government and economic growth. He identifies strongly with Tea Party protestors and has a strong following among voters who identify as evangelical. One of Cruz’s goals is to “defend the Constitution,” by restoring it to what he believes is a more conservative vision.

Cruz aims to push the Republican Party to be more aggressive in its political negotiations. Because of this, he is seen by some as a strong leader, and accused by others of being overzealous. On immigration, Cruz believes that border control is an issue of national security and that the Obama administration has been too lenient. He proposes major reform that includes building a physical wall, an increase in deportations, and the strengthening of policies like E-verify.

Recent Controversy Over Citizenship

While Cruz was born in Canada, he meets the eligibility requirement to run for president because he was born to an American-born mother who had retained her American citizenship. Cruz’s parents lived in Calgary, Canada for a time because his father worked in the oil industry. The family moved to Texas when Ted was four.

John McCain (who was subject to similar scrutiny when he ran for president in 2008) has made the news by publicly raising the question. The public spotlight on this matter has caused other candidates to question Cruz’s allegedly inconsistent voting record in Congress, as well as public statements regarding the value of being the child of an immigrant.

Cruz has shot back, making it clear that he opposes amnesty, citizenship and legalization for illegal aliens. He also accused McCain of bringing up the issue because the former candidate supports his opponent, Marco Rubio.

Questions of citizenship are hardly new. President Obama, who was born in Hawaii, was subject to scrutiny because his father was a Muslim from Kenya. George Romney (son of 2012 Republican candidate Mitt) ran for president in 1968 and was questioned because he was born in Mexico. John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, where his Navy officer father was stationed.