Ted Cruz speaks at the Strafford County GOP Committee Chili and Chat in New Hampshire.(Photo: Jim Cole, Associated Press)
What do you know about GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz beyond being a senator representing Texas? Here are six topics to get you started:
HIS FAMILY
Ted Cruz met his wife, Heidi, in Austin when they worked on George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. She went on to work at the National Security Council under Condoleezza Rice and at the U.S. Treasury Department. Heidi Nelson Cruz is now a managing director for Goldman Sachs in Houston. The couple have two young girls, Caroline and Catherine. Cruz's father, Rafael, is a pastor in suburban Dallas and has his own following among conservatives.
BORN IN CANADA
Cruz was born Dec. 22, 1970, in Calgary to an American-born mother, Eleanor, and a Cuban-born father, Rafael. His parents were working in the oil industry at the time. Cruz automatically became a citizen of the United States and Canada when he was born. He officially renounced his Canadian citizenship last year. Two former top Justice Department lawyers wrote in the Harvard Law Review that "there is no question" Cruz meets the Constitution's requirement of being a "natural born citizen" and is thus eligible to run for president.
OBAMACARE FOE
The junior senator from Texas took over the Senate floor for 21 hours in 2013 in an attempt to defund President Obama's health care law. Cruz's filibuster-like protest helped set the stage for a 16-day government shutdown. Cruz and other Republicans refused to pass a spending bill that would keep the government running unless the measure eliminated funding for the Affordable Care Act. Democrats widely blamed Cruz for the shutdown, but the senator is adamant that Obama and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid were at fault because they did not negotiate with the GOP on budget issues.
TEA PARTY REBEL TO WACKO BIRD
Cruz scored one of the biggest upsets in the 2012 elections when he defeated David Dewhurst in the Texas GOP primary with help from Tea Party activists. Dewhurst, who was Rick Perry's lieutenant governor, spent more than $20 million of his own money but could not tamp down the Tea Party's enthusiasm for Cruz. With his Senate victory, Cruz became the first Hispanic to win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. Barely three months into being a senator, Cruz was labeled a "wacko bird" by Sen. John McCain for his no-compromise style.
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
The senator graduated from Princeton University in 1992 and earned his law degree at Harvard three years later. He clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist. Like President Obama, Cruz took Laurence Tribe's constitutional law class while at Harvard.Tribe told Bloomberg Politics that Cruz earned an "A" in his class and would always offer "an interesting counterpoint" in discussions."He was a little less bombastic," Tribe said about his former student. "He was certainly smart."
SUPREME COURT ARGUMENTS
As Texas solicitor general from 2003 to 2008, Cruz argued before the Supreme Court nine times. He keeps a painting in his office of himself, at the age of 32, arguing a case before the justices. Cruz told ABC News last year that he looks at the painting from time to time as a reminder of what it's like to lose. "It was 30 minutes of getting pounded," Cruz said. "It was like a head of tuna being thrown to a school of sharks."
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