Senator Rand Paul at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
First-term Kentucky Senator Rand Paul made a formal announcement early Tuesday on his campaign website that he will be running for president in 2016.
"I am running for president to return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government," Paul stated in his website.
The official announcement was due at a rally in Louisville on Tuesday at 11:30 AM local time, but he made the announcement through his website beforehand. The rally is expected to feature local pastor Jerry Stephenson, Senator Ralph Alvarado, and Lauren Bosler, a student at the University of Kentucky.
Paul's announcement marks the second presidential bid after Ted Cruz, who made his announcement in the later part of March. Both candidates are Republican.
However, Paul is a rather atypical Republican, as he had been appealing to libertarian ideas in the past and has held isolationist beliefs that alienated other Repbulicans. Many believe that his challenge will be to appeal to the Republican base, while not losing ground with his already existent libertarian supporters.
"His biggest challenge is he's so far from a conventional Republican, in terms of both his behavior and ideological stance," Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, told the Los Angeles Times. "He hopes to appeal to people who are not the standard Republican constituency, people more skeptical of military spending or projecting American muscle abroad. ... That will help him appeal to a general-election audience, but in the short term, that's a challenge."
Paul, who describes himself and his wife as devout Christians who are active in the local church, focuses on limited government, opposes abortion, and proposes tax reform. He also has tried to appeal to minority groups in the past, and his stance on immigration has been one that focused on encouraging legal immigration and securing borders.
"I recognize that the country has been enriched by those who seek the American Dream and the desire for a better life," Paul stated. "However, millions of illegal immigrants are crossing our border without our knowledge, which threatens our national security."
Paul graduated from Baylor University, and went on to Duke Medical School, where he also completed his residency for ophthalmology. Paul emphasizes the work that he had done with his ophthamology practice for the community, including a recent medical mission trip he took to Guatemala, and the fact that he performs pro-bono eye surgeries for patients in Kentucky.
