GOP Sen. Ted Cruz (Tx) became the first candidate from either party to officially announce they are running for president in the 2016 election. And he did it with a single tweet.
“I’m running for president and I hope to earn your support!” the tweet, posted at 12:09 am EDT, read.
Embedded in the tweet is a 30-second video, with the type of imagery we’ve come to expect from campaign ads: the Golden Gate Bridge, baseball, factory workers, and, since it’s Ted Cruz, a bunch of churches.
I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support! pic.twitter.com/0UTqaIoytP
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 23, 2015
“I believe in America and her people,” Cruz says in the video, “and I believe we can stand up and restore our promise. It’s going to take a new generation of courageous conservatives to help make America great again. And I’m ready to stand with you and lead the fight.”
Cruz might be fighting that fight alone, as a CNN/ORC poll shows that he only garnered support from four percent of primary voters.
The senator, who once read Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham on the floor of Congress and was responsible for the 2013 government shutdown, is about to make a more formal candidacy announcement today at Liberty University, the self-proclaimed largest Christian university in the world.
Video of Sen. Cruz’s announcement can be watched live on C-SPAN.