Is Ted Cruz launching his presidential campaign at Liberty University?
Ted Cruz is making an "important" speech Monday at Liberty University, stoking speculation the Texas senator will declare his campaign for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.
The Houston Chronicle reported late Saturday that Cruz is "done exploring" and will launch his 2016 campaign "outright rather than form an exploratory committee." The Chronicle report cites senior advisers with direct knowledge of his plans.
If the buzz holds, Cruz would be the first Republican to announce his candidacy.
Aides in Cruz's political operation began calling reporters Friday to urge their attendance and would only say "you should be there" when asked if the senator was going to formally launch his White House bid. Cruz's family is expected to attend.
Liberty University is an interesting setting for a campaign launch. The school was founded by Jerry Falwell, the televangelist and conservative commentator who died in 2007. Liberty — which is located in Lynchburg, Va. — bills itself as the world's largest Christian university with more than 13,000 residential students.
It was about a year ago, in April, that Cruz addressed the school's Convocation series to say religious liberty is "under assault" in the Obama administration. Rafael Cruz, the senator's father and a suburban Dallas pastor, spoke at Liberty University in 2013. The elder Cruz urged the students to become more involved in civic life and do their duty to elect "righteous leaders."
Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, told The News & Advance in Lynchburg that Cruz's speech had been kept quiet by the university at the senator's request. He confirmed that a previously scheduled speech on Monday by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has been postponed.
The location of a presidential announcement often has meaning for a candidate. Mitt Romney kicked off his 2012 campaign in New Hampshire, which hosts the nation's first presidential primary and where he has a vacation home. President Obama announced his 2008 campaign in Springfield, Ill., in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, because it is where Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous "house divided" speech about the problems of slavery.
For Cruz, declaring his candidacy at Liberty University would send a signal that he wants the votes of religious conservatives. He's no stranger to them, having won a straw poll conducted by the Values Voter Summit two years in a row.
"For someone whose calling card is the Constitution and who presents himself as a 'conviction conservative,' giving a talk at Liberty is a fitting place that's very symbolic," said Mark Jones, chairman of the political science department at Rice University. "He's trying to bring together the movement conservatives with the social conservatives."
Cruz recently made campaign-like appearances in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and told one audience to "stay tuned" about his future plans. Like others eyeing the White House, he has been expanding his political operations and fine-tuning campaign themes.
One of those themes likely to be repeated today is what Cruz calls "opportunity conservatism." This is his idea that every Republican policy should be geared toward helping people up the economic ladder as a way to convince people that the GOP isn't just the party of the rich.