Ted Cruz (R-TX-Senate)

Ted Cruz

Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz

Ted Cruz Senatorial Candidate Texas

Biography of Ted Cruz from Ted Cruz for Senate

In January 2011, Ted Cruz filed to run for U.S. Senate based on his proven record of fighting for conservative principles and winning on a national level. He is running for the Senate to stand up and fight to defend liberty, preserve the Constitution, and stop federal overreach.

From 2003-08, Ted served as the Solicitor General of Texas, the chief lawyer for the State before the U.S. Supreme Court and all the state and federal appellate courts. Cruz was the youngest Solicitor General in the nation, the longest serving Solicitor General in Texas, and the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas.

Ted has authored over 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and personally argued 40 oral arguments, including 9 before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under the leadership of Attorney General Greg Abbott, Ted defended Texas values, winning repeatedly on a national level. During Ted’s service as Solicitor General, Texas achieved an unprecedented series of landmark national victories, including successfully defending:

U.S. sovereignty against the World Court in Medellin v. Texas.
The Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms;
The constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument;
The constitutionality of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance;
The constitutionality of Texas Sexually Violent Predator Civil Commitment law; and
The Texas congressional redistricting plan.

Ted has been described by National Review as “a Republican star rising in Texas,” and as “a great Reaganite hope.”

The National Law Journal called him “a key voice” to whom “the [U.S. Supreme Court] Justices listen.” He was named by American Lawyer magazine as one of the 50 Best Litigators under 45 in America, by the National Law Journal as one of the 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America, and Texas Lawyer as one of the 25 Greatest Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century.

Ted currently serves as a Partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Houston, where he leads the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national Appellate Litigation practice. In addition, from 2004-09, he taught U.S. Supreme Court Litigation as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law.

Prior to serving as Solicitor General, Ted served as the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and Domestic Policy Advisor on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. In addition, Ted clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist on the U.S. Supreme Court. He was the first Hispanic ever to have clerked for the Chief Justice of the United States.

Ted has seen first-hand that America’s bedrock principle is the pursuit of freedom and opportunity. His father came to Texas from Cuba penniless at age 18, not speaking a word of English. Cruz went on to study at Princeton where, in college debate, he was named the U.S. National Speaker of the Year and the U.S. National Team of the Year (with his partner). He also won the First Place Speaker award at both the 1992 U.S. National Debating Championship and the 1992 North American Debate Championships.

He graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude and served as a Primary Editor of the Harvard Law Review, an Executive Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, and a Founding Editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review.

Ted and his wife Heidi live in Houston, where he grew up, with their three-year-old daughter, Caroline, and their newborn daughter Catherine.

A New Generation of Leaders

The election of a president as radical as Barack Obama resoundingly demonstrated the depressing scarcity of principled conservative leaders who can communicate common-sense ideas in a way that resonates with the American people. We need to rediscover the leadership embodied by President Reagan, and the values that have kept our nation strong, including faith, family, limited government, individual responsibility, and expanding opportunity for every American. We need a new generation of leaders committed to making a difference, not simply staying in office. We need to inspire young people and old people and all people that America has always been and must continue to be a ‘shining city on a hill,’ a land of hope and opportunity built upon rule of law.

America’s Promise

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. From them, I learned that America has always been the land of opportunity, a beacon of freedom and hope for the world. They taught me the value of education and hard work and the importance of an environment that allows every American the opportunity to achieve the American dream.

This nation is a miracle of opportunity. Founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution, America has prospered for two centuries under a Constitution that constrains government and a culture that rewards entrepreneurship and free enterprise. To solve our many challenges, we need to harness the frontier mentality that defines Texans, and work tirelessly to ensure that our children enjoy the same freedom and opportunity — built on individual responsibility — that has formed the foundation of our country.