Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (/kruːz/; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.
Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta and raised in Houston, Texas. He holds degrees from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. From 1999 to 2003, he held various government positions; Cruz served as Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Justice Department, and as a Domestic Policy Advisor to George W. Bush on the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign. Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008, having been appointed by Texas Attorney General and later Governor Greg Abbott. He was the longest-serving Solicitor General in Texas history and the first Hispanic American to serve in that capacity. From 2004 to 2009, Cruz was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.