Ted Cruz announces 2016 US presidential bid

US senator Ted  Cruz opened the first major campaign of the 2016 presidential season yesterday with a kick-off speech courting cultural conservatives and declaring that he will devote himself to “reigniting the promise of America”.

One of several Republican hopefuls to rise from the Tea Party movement, Cruz spoke at Liberty University, the college founded by the late Jerry Falwell, hours after a late-night tweet announcing his White House bid.

The choice of the college founded by Falwell, a Baptist pastor and televangelist, was meant as a marker against potential rivals who are also counting on Christian conservatives to fuel their candidacies.