WATCH: First term Kentucky Senator Rand Paul officially threw his hat into the ring today, becoming the second Republican to announce he is running for President. Nancy Cordes reports.
With only a few years in politics behind him, ophthalmologist-turned-Kentucky Senator Rand Paul wants to be the next president of the United States.
Paul announced his bid for the White House on Tuesday, online and at his “Stand With Rand” rally in Louisville, Kentucky.
WATCH: U.S. Senator Rand Paul kicks off campaign to become the next U.S. president.
READ MORE: Republican Senator Rand Paul running for president
Here’s what you need to know about the Republican presidential hopeful.
The basics
- He’s 52 years old.
- He’s been married to his wife, Kelley Ashby, for 24 years and they have three sons.
- He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010.
- He was born in Lake Jackson, Texas and his father is former Congressman Ron Paul — who has made three failed attempts to become president.
Here’s where he sits on some of the hot issues
Paul is all over the spectrum when it comes to issues that tend to be divisive in U.S. politics.
- He wants to set term-limits to reign in career politicians.
- He plans to reform the U.S. tax code and proposed auditing the Federal Reserve, allowing Congress to regulate it.
- He supports the right to bear arms. He wants to end the war on drugs and ease punishments for drug use and possession.
- He’s against a federal ban on same-sex marriage, but hardly in favour of legalizing marriage between two men or two women. In fact, he told Fox News he thinks marriage is between a man and a woman and using the term marriage for same-sex couples “offends myself and a lot of people.” But, he said “competing contracts” giving same-sex couples legal “equivalency” would have solved a lot of problems. He thinks individual states should be able to decide for themselves.
- He is firm on one other controversial issue in American politics: abortion. He is outright against abortion and believes that “life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent human being,” a message on his website reads.
According to The Associated Press, he has pushed Republicans to shift their focus away from these issues in order to help the party move forward.
What about issues that relate to Canada?
With 19 months until the presidential election, it might not matter whether Paul would be a good match with the Canadian government. The Canadian federal election has to be held by this October and will be over and done with months before the kick off of the U.S. primaries — which will cull the candidates down to one.
- Whether Stephen Harper hangs onto his job of prime minister or Justin Trudeau leads the Liberals to form a new government, Paul’s support for the proposed Keystone XL would certainly work to either leader’s favour. NDP leader Tom Mulcair, who has expressed opposition to the project, might not be a match for Paul.
- Paul is a devout supporter of Israel, as is the Canadian government, and the security of Israel is one of the highlighted issues on his campaign website. He pointed to his proposed “Stand with Israel” bill that would cut off U.S. financial aid to the Palestinian Authority so long as it’s allied with Hamas. But unlike Harper and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Paul favoured the talks with Iran that led to a landmark agreement last week over its nuclear program.
- He’s no fan of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The agreement requires financial institutions in foreign countries to identify and report their American customers. Canada signed the agreement with the U.S. in February 2014 and it went into effect that July. Paul proposed legislation last month to repeal FATCA, arguing it is “dangerous” to the privacy of Americans who work or live in other countries.
How much of a chance does he have?
A CNN/ORC International poll showed Paul sits comfortably in third place behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, neither of whom have formally entered the 2016 race.
The CNN poll indicated Paul had the support of 12 per cent of Republican voters. By comparison, Bush had 16 per cent, Walker 13 per cent. The sole declared Republican candidate, former Canadian Texas Senator Ted Cruz, sat near the bottom of the pack at 4 per cent support.
It’s still far too early in the race to guess who could be the nominee for either party. Rumours are circulating that former Secretary of State and 2008 Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton will formally announce her 2016 bid soon. Bush, Walker and other presumed Republican hopefuls have also yet to officially toss their hats in the ring, although Florida Senator Marco Rubio hinted he would be making a “huge announcement” next Monday.
With a file from Patrick Cain
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