Ted Cruz is the first major Republican to announce that he is going to be one of the U.S. presidential candidates. The Texas senator made the announcement at the largest Christian university in the world on Monday.

Cruz asked the crowd to imagine how the country would be when he took office. He roamed around the circular stage at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia and pitched his family history. He talked about his journey to Washington. He said that, the promise of America seemed more and more distant for many Americans. He asked the university students to focus on the future and imagine the country under his leadership.

The first-time senator talked about his mother. The “little girl” grew up in Delaware to become a “pioneering computer programmer.” He said that his father who had been a teenage rebel fighter in Cuba who ran away to the U.S. at 18. Cruz openly talked about his parents’ marital troubles and alcohol abuse as well. He said that they had eventually found their faith.

Cruz asked the students to imagine a U.S. president who would defend the sanctity of human life and uphold the sacrament of marriage. He asked them to imagine someone who would abolish the Internal Revenue Service and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz said that he had to take two jobs to pay for his school. He took $100,000 in student loans and paid the amount back only a few years back.

Cruz talked to thousands of students who cheered as referred to God’s blessing on the U.S. “God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation and I believe God isn’t done with America yet,” Cruz said, “I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to re-ignite the promise of America.”

He announced that he would be running for president of the U.S. He said that it was time for truth and liberty. He added that it was time to reclaim the constitution of the U.S. He received a huge cheer when he asked the students to imagine a U.S. president who would stand “unapologetically with the nation of Israel.”

Cruz’s claim to fame was his strong opposition against Obamacare. His willingness to shut the federal government down brought him to the national limelight.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au

RELATED STORIES