Cruz to announce White House bid Monday

By Kyle Balluck - 03-22-15 07:39 AM EDT

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will announce a presidential campaign on Monday, according to multiple reports.

The Houston Chronicle quotes unidentified senior Cruz advisers, who said he will launch a bid for the White House outright instead of forming an exploratory committee.

Those advisers told the Chronicle that Cruz plans to raise as much as $50 million during the primary, adding that the key to success is cobbling together a coalition of tea party voters, libertarians and social conservatives.

Cruz’s Monday speech at Liberty University stirred speculation about a possible presidential announcement.

Reporters are being encouraged to attend what they’re billing as a major address at the evangelical school about 150 miles from Washington, D.C.

GOP hopefuls have frequently made stops to speak to the evangelical base of the party at the conservative college, founded by the late Jerry Falwell.

The first-term Texas senator, who has long been expected to run for the White House, has been making frequent visits to early states. Other likely rivals, including Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.), are also expected to announce in the next month.

Cruz's announcement would make him the GOP’s first formal candidate for the White House in 2016,  which could be the most crowded field of Republican presidential candidates in recent memory.

The Texas lawmaker would likely face former first lady Hillary Clinton as his Democratic opponent should he win his party’s nomination. Other possible Democratic competitors include Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Bernie Sanders (Vt.) and former Gov. Martin O’Malley (Md.)

Cruz possibly tipped his hand on his White House intentions earlier this month when he announced the release of his latest book.

HarperCollins Publishers is scheduled to publish "A Time for Truth: Reigniting the Miracle of America" on June 30.

The Texas lawmaker said on March 5 that potential themes for a presidential campaign are “certainly reflected” in the upcoming text.

Cruz first entered Congress on a wave of Tea Party support in 2012. He defeated then-Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in a GOP senatorial primary after former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson announced she would not seek reelection.

The Texas lawmaker soon entered the public eye during the 2013 government shutdown. Cruz earned national attention by orchestrating the incident in an attempt to delay or defund ObamaCare.

The move was beloved by the Tea Party faithful, but put Cruz at odds with many Democrats and even members of his own party.

Cruz has also criticized President Obama’s negotiations with Iran in recent months. The President hopes Tehran will slow or stop its nuclear weapons research in exchange for reducing sanctions.

“One of the things that’s always been missing from the Obama-Clinton-Kerry doctrine of foreign policy is the understanding that weakness is provocative,” Cruz said March 14 at the South Carolina National Security Action Summit in West Columbia, S.C.

Obama’s Iran strategy, Cruz added, needs “more stick” and less “carrots.”

The Texas lawmaker was one of 47 GOP senators who sent a controversial open letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, earlier this month.

It vowed Congress could void any nuclear deal with his government it found unsatisfying.

--Mark Hensch and Jessica Taylor contributed to this report, which was updated at 9:45 a.m.