TED CRUZ

TED CRUZ

Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (born December 22, 1970) is the junior United

States Senator from Texas. Elected in 2012 as a Republican, he is the first Hispanic or Cuban American to serve as a U.S. Senator from Texas. He is the chairman of the subcommittee on the Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts, Committee. He is also the chairman of the subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.

Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz was the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an associate deputy attorney general at the United States Department of Justice, and as domestic policy advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, after being appointed by Texas Attorney General Abbott. He was the first Hispanic. The youngest and the longest-serving solicitor general in Texas history. Cruz was also an adjunct professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, from 2004 to 2009.While there, he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation. Cruz is one of three Latinos in the Senate; the others also Americans of Cuban ancestry are fellow Republican Marco Rubio of Florida and Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Cruz was the Republican nominee for the Senate seat vacated by fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. On July 31, 2012, he defeated Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff, 57%–43%. Cruz defeated former state Representative Paul Sadler in the general election on November 6, 2012. He prevailed 56%–41% over Sadler. Cruz openly identifies with the Tea Party movement and has been endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus. On November 14, 2012, Cruz was appointed vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

On March 23, 2015, Cruz announced he would run for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

Here is a evaluation of the role of public opinion, interest groups , and political parties in Texas.

Large public demonstrations of political support or protest provide high visibility for an interest group if their demonstration is well attended. While letters and petitions are effective tools, they are comparatively discreet. Groups may want to call broader public attention to an issue by engaging in "wholesale" campaigning to a mass audience rather than the "retail" approach of reaching decision makers one letter or phone call at a time.

Successful public demonstrations can provide powerful visual statements. If properly publicized and managed, the effects of these visual statements can be magnified through media coverage. There are a variety of types of public demonstrations and events.

Pickets, marches and meetings are the typical ways of showing the strength of your support. Picketers try to leverage media coverage that is already being provided to another event (usually held by your opposition or targets of your action). Picketing also can influence the people attending or planning to attend the event you've targeted, perhaps even to the point that they would not attend. Marches and meetings are events created by a group to communicate to the broader community and to show organizational strength.

But organization is critical. A public gathering that's poorly attended can do more

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