Rafael Edward 'Ted' Cruz was born on December 22, 1970, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is the son of Eleanor Elizabeth Wilson and Rafael Bienvenido Cruz. His father was born in Cuba, and his mother is from Delaware.
Ted Cruz graduated from Harvard Law School in 1995 with a Juris Doctor degree. During his time at Harvard, he was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.
On January 9, 2003, Ted Cruz was appointed as Solicitor General of Texas by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He served in this role until 2008. During his tenure, Cruz argued before the Supreme Court of the United States nine times.
In August 2008, after serving as Texas Solicitor General, Ted Cruz joined the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as a partner. He worked there until 2013, focusing on commercial litigation, international arbitration, and appellate work.
On November 6, 2012, Ted Cruz was elected as the U.S. Senator from Texas. He defeated the Democratic candidate, former state Representative Paul Sadler, receiving 56.6% of the vote to Sadler’s 40.5%. Cruz became the first Hispanic American to serve as a U.S. Senator from Texas.
On September 24, 2013, Senator Ted Cruz gave a 21-hour speech on the Senate floor to protest the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Although it was technically not a filibuster, the speech was one of the longest in Senate history and was aimed at delaying a vote on the legislation.
On March 23, 2015, Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for President of the United States. He made the announcement at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Cruz was the first major Republican candidate to announce his candidacy for the 2016 election.
On May 3, 2016, after a series of primary defeats, Ted Cruz suspended his presidential campaign. The decision came after losing the Indiana primary to Donald Trump, who was then the Republican frontrunner.
On July 20, 2016, Ted Cruz delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. He notably did not endorse the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, instead urging voters to 'vote your conscience.'
On November 6, 2018, Ted Cruz was re-elected to the U.S. Senate after defeating Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke. Cruz received 50.9% of the vote compared to O'Rourke's 48.3%, in one of the most closely watched and expensive Senate races in the country.
On January 6, 2021, Ted Cruz was one of several Republican senators who objected to the certification of the Electoral College results from the 2020 Presidential Election. The objection came amid the Capitol riot, where a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the election results.
On February 18, 2021, Ted Cruz came under heavy criticism for traveling to Cancún, Mexico, during a severe winter storm that left millions of Texans without power and water. Cruz later returned to Texas and admitted the trip was 'obviously a mistake.'
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