Ted Cruz

Rafael Edward Ted Cruz (born December 22, 1970) is an American politician who was Solicitor General of the U.S. state of Texas from 2003 to May 2008. Cruz was appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and had the longest tenure in the post thus far in Texas history. He is currently a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis amp; Bockius, where he leads the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice. Cruz won the 2012 Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. He defeated Lt. Governor David Dewhurst in the Republican primary runoff by 57% to 43% on July 31, 2012. Cruz previously served as 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. In addition, from 2004 to 2009 Cruz was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.