Ted Cruz

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Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz, official portrait, 113th Congress.jpg
United States Senator
from Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2013
Serving with John Cornyn
Preceded by Kay Bailey Hutchison
Solicitor General of Texas
In office
January 9, 2003 – May 2008
Governor Rick Perry
Preceded by Julie Parsley
Succeeded by James Ho
Personal details
Born Rafael Edward Cruz
(1970-12-22) December 22, 1970 (age 42)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada[1]
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Heidi Cruz
Children 2
Residence Houston, Texas
Alma mater Princeton University (BA) (1992)[1]
Harvard University (JD) (1995)[1]
Religion Southern Baptist[2]
Website Ted Cruz for Senate
Senator Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz on Facebook
Ted Cruz on Twitter

Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (born December 22, 1970[1]) is an American politician and the junior United States Senator for the state of Texas, in office since 2013. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Cruz was Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[1] He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas,[3] the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and had the longest tenure in Texas history. He was formerly a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he led the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.[4]

He previously served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. In addition, Cruz was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation, from 2004 to 2009.

Cruz was the Republican nominee for the Senate seat which was vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.[5] On July 31, 2012, he defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff, 57%–to-43%.[6] Cruz defeated the Democrat, former state Representative Paul Sadler, in the general election held on November 6, 2012; he prevailed with 56%-to–41% over Sadler.[6] Cruz is endorsed by the Tea Party movement and the Republican Liberty Caucus.[7]

On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.[8]

Contents

Early life and education [edit]

Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada,[1] where his parents, Eleanor Darragh and Rafael Cruz, were working in the oil business.[9][10] His father was a Cuban immigrant to the United States during the Cuban Revolution.[11] His mother was born and reared in Delaware, in a family of Irish and Italian descent.[10][12] Cruz's parents, who had both attended college in Texas, returned there when Ted was about four years old.[11]

Cruz attended high school at Faith West Academy in Katy, Texas,[13] and then graduated from Second Baptist High School in Houston.

Cruz graduated cum laude from Princeton University in 1992.[14][1] While at Princeton, he competed for the American Whig-Cliosophic Society's Debate Panel and won the top speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debating Championship.[15] In 1992, he was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year and Team of the Year (with his debate partner, David Panton).[16] Cruz was also a semi-finalist at the 1995 World Universities Debating Championship.[17]

Cruz's senior thesis on the separation of powers, titled "Clipping the Wings of Angels," draws its inspiration from a passage attributed to James Madison: "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." Cruz argued that the drafters of the Constitution intended to protect the rights of their constituents, and the last two items in the Bill of Rights offered an explicit stop against an all-powerful state. Cruz wrote: "They simply do so from different directions. The Tenth stops new powers, and the Ninth fortifies all other rights, or non-powers."[18][19]

Cruz then attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995.[20][21][1] While at Harvard Law, Cruz was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, and executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.[14] As a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said, “Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant.”[22]

Legal career [edit]

Cruz served as a law clerk to William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States,[1] and J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.[23][3] Cruz was the first Hispanic ever to clerk for a Chief Justice of the United States.[24]

Cruz served as an associate deputy attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department[1] and as the director of policy planning at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission under President George W. Bush.[22][1]

In 2003, Cruz was appointed Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[3]

Cruz has authored more than 80 United States Supreme Court briefs and presented 43 oral arguments, including nine before the United States Supreme Court.[3][22][25] In the landmark case of District of Columbia v. Heller, Cruz drafted the amicus brief signed by attorneys general of 31 states, which said that the D.C. handgun ban should be struck down as infringing upon the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.[25][26] Cruz also presented oral argument for the amici states in the companion case to Heller before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.[25][27] Cruz did legal work during the Florida recount during the Presidential campaign of Bush/Cheney 2000.[28]

In addition to his victory in Heller, Cruz has successfully defended the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds,[22][25] the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools[22] and the majority of the 2003 Texas redistricting plan.[29]

Cruz also successfully defended, in Medellin v. Texas, the State of Texas against an attempt by the International Court of Justice to re-open the criminal convictions of 51 murderers on death row throughout the United States.[3][22][25]

Cruz has been named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America,[30][31] by The National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America,[32][33] and by Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.[34][35]

U.S. Senate [edit]

2012 election [edit]

Main article: United States Senate election in Texas, 2012
Cruz speaking to the Values Voters Summit in October 2011.

Cruz's election has been described by the Washington Post as “the biggest upset of 2012 . . . a true grassroots victory against very long odds.”[36] On January 19, 2011, after U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said she would not seek reelection, Cruz announced his candidacy via a blogger conference call.[5] In the Republican senatorial primary, Cruz ran against sitting Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. Cruz was endorsed by the Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative political action committee;[37] Erick Erickson, editor of prominent conservative blog RedState;[38] the FreedomWorks for America super PAC;[39] nationally syndicated radio host Mark Levin;[40] former Attorney General Edwin Meese;[41] Tea Party Express;[42] Young Conservatives of Texas;[43] and U.S. Senators Tom Coburn,[44] Jim DeMint,[45] Mike Lee,[46] Rand Paul,[47] and Pat Toomey.[48] He was also endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and former Texas Congressman Ron Paul,[49] George P. Bush[28] and former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum.[50]

Cruz won the runoff for the Republican nomination with a 14-point margin over Dewhurst.[51] In the November 6 general election, Cruz faced Democrat Paul Sadler, an attorney and a former state representative from Henderson, in east Texas. Cruz won with 4.5 million votes (56.4%) to Sadler's 3.2 million (40.6%). Two minor candidates got the remaining 3% of the vote.[6] Cruz got 35% of the Hispanic vote.[52]

Political positions [edit]

Cruz is a gun-rights supporter.[53] On March 25, 2013, an announcement was made by Cruz and U.S. Senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee threatening that they would filibuster any legislation that entails gun control, such as the Manchin-Toomey Amendment, which would require background checks on sales at gun shows.[54] On April 17, 2013, Cruz voted against the Manchin-Toomey Amendment.[55] Republicans successfully filibustered the amendment by a vote of 54–46, as 60 votes were needed for cloture.[56]

Committee assignments [edit]

Personal life [edit]

Cruz was born and spent the first four years of his life in Calgary before his parents returned to Houston. His father was jailed and tortured by the Fulgencio Batista regime and fought for Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution[57] but "didn't know Castro was a Communist" and later became a staunch critic of Castro when "the rebel leader took control and began seizing private property and suppressing dissent."[58] Rafael Cruz moved to Austin in 1957 to study at the University of Texas. He did not speak English and had $100 sewn into his underwear.[25][59] The elder Cruz worked his way through school as a dishwasher making 50 cents an hour.[22] Cruz's father today is a pastor in North Dallas and became a U.S. citizen in 2005.[18] Cruz’s mother, who was from Delaware, was the first person in her family to attend college. She earned a degree in mathematics from Rice University in Houston in the 1950s, working summers at Foley’s and Shell.[18] Cruz has said, "I'm Cuban, Irish, and Italian, and yet somehow I ended up Southern Baptist."[60]

Cruz and his wife, Heidi Cruz, have two daughters. Cruz met his wife while working on the George W. Bush presidential campaign of 2000. Cruz's wife is currently head of the Southwest Region in the Investment Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and previously worked in the White House for Condoleezza Rice and in New York as an investment banker.[61]

Electoral history [edit]

Main article: United States Senate election in Texas, 2012

2012 Republican primary [edit]

Republican primary results, May 29, 2012[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Republican David Dewhurst 624,170 44.6%
Republican Ted Cruz 479,079 34.2%
Republican Tom Leppert 186,675 13.3%
Republican Craig James 50,211 3.6%
Republican Glenn Addison 22,888 1.6%
Republican Lela Pittenger 18,028 1.3%
Republican Ben Gambini 7,193 0.5%
Republican Curt Cleaver 6,649 0.5%
Republican Joe Argis 4,558 0.3%
Totals 1,399,451 100%

2012 Republican primary runoff [edit]

Republican runoff results, July 31, 2012[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Republican Ted Cruz 631,316 56.8%
Republican David Dewhurst 480,165 43.2%
Totals 1,111,481 100%

2012 General Election [edit]

General Election, November 6, 2012[6]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Republican Ted Cruz 4,469,843 56.45%
Democratic Paul Sadler 3,194,927 40.62%
Libertarian John Jay Myers 162,354 2.06%
Green David Collins 67,404 0.85%
Totals 7,864,822 100%

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "CRUZ, Rafael Edward (Ted) – Biographical Information". Bioguide.congress.gov. Retrieved April 27, 2013. 
  2. ^ Hartfield, Elizabeth. Ted Cruz Wins In Texas GOP Senate Runoff, ABC News (2012-07-31). Retrieved on 2012-12-28.
  3. ^ a b c d e Russ, Hilary. Rising Star: Morgan Lewis' R. Ted Cruz, Law360, April 05, 2010.
  4. ^ Passarella, Gina (2008-05-06). "Morgan Lewis Adds Texas Solicitor General". Law.com. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 
  5. ^ a b "Ted Cruz Makes it a New Game for U.S. Senate in Texas". RedState web site. 2011-01-19. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  6. ^ a b c d e f State of Texas, Office of the Secretary of State, Election Results
  7. ^ Planas, Roque (2012-07-16). "Ted Cruz Puts Dewhurst on Defensive in Last Debate Before Texas Runoff". Fox News. Retrieved 2012-09-30. 
  8. ^ Gillman, Todd J., Ted Cruz to help Senate GOP with “grassroots” outreach, Dallas Morning News, November 14, 2012.
  9. ^ Kate Zernike (18 November 2011). "A Test for the Tea Party in Texas Senate Race". New York Times. Retrieved 18 November 2011. 
  10. ^ a b Jeffrey, Terence.Ted Cruz: New Voice for the American Dream, Creators.com, 2011. Retrieved on 2013-02-16.
  11. ^ a b Ferguson, John Wayne. Texplainer: Could Canadian-Born Ted Cruz Be President?, Texas Tribune, August 13, 2012.
  12. ^ Weiner, Rachel (2012-08-01) "Who is Ted Cruz?". The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2012-12-28.
  13. ^ Eriksen, Helen (2005-08-11). "Solicitor general carries "supreme" weight with Katy roots". Houston Chronicle web site. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
  14. ^ a b Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs | Ted Cruz 92 Sworn-in as U.S. Senator from Texas
  15. ^ Hall of Fame | Princeton Debate Panel. Debate.princeton.edu. Retrieved on 2012-12-28.
  16. ^ Old Nassau and the Tea Party converge - The Daily Princetonian
  17. ^ Howard Goodman (1995=01-10). "Australians win debate at Princeton; A Singapore woman won the award for best speaker; English is not her native language". Philadelphia Inquirer ("But the Harvard Law team was composed of two Princeton grads Ted Cruz and David Panton both Class of '92."). 
  18. ^ a b c Eckholm, Erik. A Republican Voice With Tea Party Mantle and Intellectual Heft, New York Times, August 1, 2012 (accessed 28 February 2013).
  19. ^ Cruz, Ted. Ted Cruz's 1992 "Clipping the Wings of Angels", Princeton University, April 2, 1992 (accessed 28 February 2013).
  20. ^ Paul Begala: Ted Cruz and Texas’s Tea Party Revolution - The Daily Beast
  21. ^ David McKay Wilson, "Carrying the Tea Party Banner: U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz calls for a 'return to the framers’ vision of a constitutionally limited government.'" Harvard Law School Bulletin, Fall 2012 (accessed 18 March 2013) [1]
  22. ^ a b c d e f g Who is Ted Cruz? - The Washington Post
  23. ^ "R. (Ted) Edward Cruz > Attorney Biography > Lawyers". Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. 2011-03-29. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 
  24. ^ Jeffery, Terry. Ted Cruz: New Voice for the American Dream, Townhall.com, May 25, 2011.
  25. ^ a b c d e f David McKay Wilson. HLS: Bulletin: Carrying the Tea Party Banner, Harvard Law Bulletin, Fall 2012.
  26. ^ Block, Melissa (March 14, 2008). "D.C. Gun Ban Critic: Court Must Clarify Constitution". NPR. 
  27. ^ Second Amendment Showdown - WSJ.com
  28. ^ a b The Reinvention of Ted Cruz - The Daily Beast
  29. ^ Reinert, Patty (June 28, 2006). "Most of Texas' redistricting map upheld". Houston Chronicle. 
  30. ^ The Young Litigators Fab Fifty
  31. ^ Texas Attorney General
  32. ^ The 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America
  33. ^ Legal Blog Watch
  34. ^ The 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century
  35. ^ Texas Lawyer Blog: Luncheon Honors 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter-Century
  36. ^ The biggest upset of 2012
  37. ^ Toeplitz, Shira (June 2, 2011). "Club for Growth Picks Texas Senate Favorite". Roll Call Politics. 
  38. ^ Erickson, Erick (June 2, 2011). "Ted Cruz for Senate". RedState. 
  39. ^ Geraghty, Jim (June 2, 2011). "FreedomWorks PAC Likes Ted Cruz". National Review. Retrieved 18 February 2013. 
  40. ^ Levin, Mark (June 4, 2011). "Mark Levin endorses Ted Cruz for US Senate in Texas". The Right Scoop. Retrieved 18 February 2013. 
  41. ^ "Join Conservative Stalwarts Shackelford, Meese". June 9, 2011. 
  42. ^ Shapiro, Michael W. (January 25, 2012). "Tea Party Express endorses Ted Cruz for Senate in Waco". Waco Tribune-Herald. Retrieved 18 February 2013. 
  43. ^ Scharrer, Gary (January 5, 2012). "Young conservatives choose Cruz". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 18 February 2013. 
  44. ^ Tea Party Wave Could Carry Texas Senate Seat for Ted Cruz
  45. ^ Sullivan, Sean (November 28, 2011). "For DeMint, A Few Well-Timed Endorsements". National Journal. Retrieved March 30, 2012. 
  46. ^ Catanese, David (March 7, 2011). "Sen. Lee backs Ted Cruz in Texas". Politico. Retrieved March 30, 2012. 
  47. ^ Gravois, John (July 26, 2011). "Tea Party stalwart Rand Paul backs Cruz over Dewhurst in Texas' U.S. Senate race". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 18 February 2013. 
  48. ^ Sen. Pat Toomey Endorses Ted Cruz for The Texas Senate Race | TexasSparkle | a Chron.com blog
  49. ^ Marin, Alex (2012-05-12). "Ron Paul and Sarah Palin Make Strange Bedfellows by Supporting Texas Tea Party Ted Cruz". PolicyMic. Retrieved 2012-05-12. 
  50. ^ Weissert, Will. Santorum endorses Ted Cruz in Texas Senate race. Associated Press (2012-05-24). Retrieved on 2013-02-17.
  51. ^ Weissert, Will. Ted Cruz Defeats David Dewhurst In Texas Senate Runoff. Associated Press (2012-07-31). Retrieved on 2013-02-17.
  52. ^ ImpreMedia/Latino Decisions 2012 Latino Election Eve Poll
  53. ^ Ted Cruz: My GOP Senate colleagues yelled at me for wanting to filibuster gun control, Hot Air, April 29, 2013.
  54. ^ Leaks hurt gun control bill, Sen. Pat Toomey says |publ=Washington Times
  55. ^ Silver, Nate. "Modeling the Senate’s Vote on Gun Control". New York Times. Retrieved 22 April 2013. 
  56. ^ "Senate rejects gun background checks". USA Today. Retrieved 17 April 2013. 
  57. ^ "Texas GOP Senate candidate says he’s no Rubio, his father fought for Castro". The Daily Caller. November 1, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2012. 
  58. ^ Garrett, Robert T. (October 25, 2011). "Senate candidate Ted Cruz says he hasn't misled about father's exodus from Cuba". Dallas News. Retrieved May 7, 2012. 
  59. ^ quote: "When my Dad came to Austin in 1957, as a teenage immigrant from Cuba bound for the University of Texas, he spoke no English and had $100 sewn into his underwear. He worked his way through school as a dishwasher making 50 cents an hour, just as my Mom – the first person in her family ever to go to college – earned her math degree at Rice in the 1950s, working summers at Foley’s and Shell."
  60. ^ Cruz, Ted (2012-02-09). Hugh Hewitt Show. Interview with Hugh Hewitt.
  61. ^ "Board Member Bios: Heidi Cruz". Greater Houston Partnership. Retrieved August 2, 2012. 

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ted Cruz
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Articles
Party political offices
Preceded by
Kay Bailey Hutchison		 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Texas
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Preceded by
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Served alongside: John Cornyn		 Incumbent
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