Texas Sen. Ted Cruz announces 2016 presidential run

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz kicked off his presidential campaign Monday, making him the first high-profile Republican to formally enter the 2016 race.

“God’s blessing has been on America since the very beginning of this nation, and I believe that God isn’t done with America yet. I believe in you — in the power of millions of courageous conservatives — to regain the promise of America,” Cruz said during his announcement speech at Liberty University in Virginia, an evangelical Christian school established by the late Jerry Falwell. “And that is why today I am announcing that I am running for President of the United States.”

Throughout his speech, Cruz, 44, spoke often of his own personal story as the child of a Cuban immigrant who became a born-again Christian, and drew heavily on religious themes — an indication that he will position himself as the social and economic conservative that has made him so popular among the Tea Party.

“There are people who wonder if faith is real. I can tell you that in my family, there is not a second of doubt,” he said. “And what is the promise of America? The revolutionary idea this country was founded upon — that our rights don’t come from man, they come from God Almighty."

Cruz also took shots at the White House, another suggestion that he could base a campaign primarily on anti-Obama fervor among conservatives.

“Think about how different the world could be," he said. “Instead of economic stagnation, booming economic growth. Instead of small businesses going out of business in record numbers, imagine them growing in unprecedented numbers.”

“Imagine America becoming energy self-sufficient as millions of high-paying jobs are created,” he added, evoking John Lennon's most famous solo song. “Imagine a new President signing legislation repealing every word of Obamacare.”

Cruz, a Tea Party darling, has made no secret throughout his two years in the U.S. Senate of his ambitions to hold higher office, and in recent months had consistently hinted he’d enter the 2016 presidential contest.

The Texas senator officially announced his candidacy hours before his speech in a 30-second video message embedded in a tweet shortly after midnight.

“I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!” he tweeted.

With Cruz in the race, most politicos don’t expect much time to pass before other prominent Republicans jump in, too.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul are all but guaranteed to also jump into the fray over the coming weeks and months.

Cruz, a favorite among the GOP’s conservative base, hasn’t registered strongly in early polling, but his appeal among the Tea Party wing of the GOP could make him a force to be reckoned with in the debates.

A recent Real Clear Politics average of the latest polls indicated that Cruz garnered only 4.6% of the support of likely Republican voters nationwide, and just 4.3% and 4.4% of the support of likely GOP voters in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively.

Criticized by members of his own party at times, Cruz has won praise from Tea Party activists for leading the GOP's push to shut down the federal government during an unsuccessful bid to block funding for President Barack Obama's health care law.

His entrance into the race on Monday, however, attracted the ire of at least one of his competitors.

Long Island Rep. Peter King, who is also running for the party’s nomination, called Cruz a “carnival barker” in a statement, adding that “the Republican Party and the American people have to be able to find a more qualified candidate for President.”

Cruz, who was born in Canada, has also faced question over whether he meets the presidential requirement of being a natural-born citizen. But two lawyers who represented Presidents from both parties at the U.S. Supreme Court recently wrote in the Harvard Law Review that Cruz does in fact meet the constitutional standard to run.