Ted Cruz is an American politician who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election. Currently, he is the United States Senator from Texas. Cruz was born in Canada but soon moved to the U.S. with his parents. He grew up to be an intelligent and ambitious young man who graduated cum laude from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy. Blessed with great oratory skills, he won several prestigious debate competitions as a college student and was named U.S. National Speaker of the Year in 1992. He proceeded to attend Harvard Law School and received his Juris Doctor degree. A brilliant student, he became a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review and was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics. He soon ventured into a legal career and entered politics as well. He was elected as the 34th U.S. Senator from Texas, in 2012, following which his political career received a big boost. A Republican, he gained much prominence for his powerful speeches, especially his 21-hour speech against President Barack Obama's healthcare plan. The ambitious politician announced his candidacy for the post of the U.S. president, in 2015.