Republican senator Rand Paul launched his campaign for the presidency on Tuesday with a moderated version of the libertarianism he hopes will set him apart from the congested field of candidates vying for the conservative base.



At a campaign at a rally in his home state of Kentucky, Paul promised tax cuts, term limits for congressmen and an immediate end to “warrantless surveillance” by the National Security Agency as part of return to constitutional principles he said would “take our country back”.

He did so in tones that are unusual for a Republican candidate – speaking at length about inner-city poverty and promising to repeal “any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of colour”.

His speech was critical of both Republicans and Democrats, quoting Martin Luther King in one breath and Ronald Reagan in the next.

His formal entry into the contest marks a key moment in the nascent race for the Republican nomination, which is set to be the most congested presidential primary either party has held since 1976.

There could be more than 10 presidential hopefuls vying for the Republican ticket, none of whom has so far emerged as a clear frontrunner.

Paul is the first of the four leading contenders who are polling best in the early caucus and primary states to formally declare his candidacy. The others – former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Florida senator Marco Rubio – are expected to announce in the coming weeks.

Ted Cruz, the Texas senator most closely aligned with the Tea Party, became the first Republican to announce his candidacy last month, but is one of a larger pool of second-tier presidential aspirants.

Paul, a 52-year-old ophthalmologist elected to the US Senate in 2010, stands apart from the field of likely Republican candidates on non-economic issues. He supports, for example, the moderation of marijuana laws and Washington’s recent rapprochement with Cuba.

His speech on Tuesday was squarely directed at the Republican party faithful that will select who will run against the presumptive Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.

His address to supporters in a downtown hotel in Louisville was a purist articulation of American political ideals combined with an effort to convince conservative sceptics he has the muscle to be commander-in-chief.

Senior operatives in Paul’s campaign concede privately that perceptions that his libertarian-infused philosophy renders him soft on national security are perhaps his greatest weakness in the nomination phase.

Foreign policy has been rising up the agenda for Republican primary voters, particularly since the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, forcing Paul to moderate his position in recent months, even backing an increase in military spending.

On Tuesday, he was was sure to throw red meat to the hawks in his party.

“Without question we must defend ourselves and American interests from our enemies, but until we name the enemy, we can’t win the war,” he said. “The enemy is radical Islam. You can’t get around it. And not only will I name the enemy, I will do whatever it takes to defend America from these haters of mankind.”

But in a nod to his more libertarian roots, he advocated a foreign policy that “encourages stability, not chaos” and added: “I see an America strong enough to deter foreign aggression, yet wise enough to avoid unnecessary intervention.”

Paul told the crowd of enthusiastic supporters that he envisioned an American national defence that is “unparalleled, undefeatable and unencumbered by overseas nation-building”.

Ron Paul and his wife Carol, parents of Rand Paul, greet supporters before Rand Paul announced his candidacy for president. Photograph: Aaron P Bernstein/Reuters

His father, Ron Paul, 79, a former a Texan congressman, who is more unequivocally critical of American imperialism, was on the stage but kept a low profile, sitting on the far side, in the corner. The senator did not refer to him by name but opened his speech by thanking “my parents”.

Rand Paul hopes draw on the considerable libertarian network constructed by his father during his three attempts to run for president, without being painted as his political heir apparent, or alienating the hawks in the party who saw Ron Paul as a dangerous radical.



Ron Paul came third and second in the Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary in 2012, buoyed by an enthusiastic base of younger libertarian activists, but never broke through as a credible contender.

Yet even in its diluted form, the younger Paul’s libertarian brand promises an unusual mix of free-market, anti-regulation economics with positions on criminal justice and foreign policy that will appeal to younger voters, anti-war campaigners, civil libertarians and others on the left.

The perils of that unorthodox approach were immediately apparent as he was attacked by well-funded opponents on both the left and right.

The Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer, a hedge fund manager seeking to make the environment something more than a marginal issue in the 2016 presidential race, sent activists to the riverside Louisville hotel where Paul made his announcement to draw attention to questions he has raised about the science behind climate change.

Steyer’s group hired a mezzanine in Galt House hotel – the same facility rented by Paul on the banks of the Ohio river – to hang banners reading: “Senator Paul, Young Voters Won’t Be Fooled.”

Meanwhile, a conservative nonprofit unveiled a of TV ad railing against Paul over his support for nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Rick Reed, who runs Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America, which is paying for the ads to be broadcast from Wednesday, is the same Republican operative who orchestrated the “Swiftboat Veterans for Truth Campaign” that was hugely damaging to Democrat John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004.

“Rand Paul is wrong and dangerous,” a narrator on the ad says. “Tell him to stop siding with Obama.” The ad ends with the image of a nuclear mushroom cloud and the words: “One Iranian bomb would be a disaster.” The ad will run from Wednesday in all four early-nomination states Paul is traveling to.

Perhaps surprisingly, Paul did not waver from his position on the Iran negotiations, saying only that the deal should be approved by Congress – a position shared by many in the legislature, including some Democrats.

He said he was worried about statements Iran had made about the framework nuclear agreement, and raised concerns that Barack Obama may “unilaterally and prematurely halt sanctions”.

But unlike all the other probable Republican candidates, Paul did not directly criticise the emerging nuclear deal, saying only that he could not support an agreement “that does not end Iran’s nuclear ambitions and have strong verification measures”.

“Everyone needs to realise that negotiations are not inherently bad,” he added. “Our goal always should be and always is peace, not war.”



His attempt to prove his commander-in-chief bona fides will reach a crescendo on Thursday, when he gives a speech in front of the USS Yorktown, a decommissioned war ship docked on the South Carolina coast.



The South Carolina stop is part of an unusually ambitious five-day, five-state tour to kickstart Paul’s presidential campaign that will also see him travel to three other early nomination states: New Hampshire, Iowa and Nevada.

He intends to galvanise support among the party’s base, including evangelical Christians, while broadening the party’s support.

The rows of multi-racial faces that formed the stage backdrop during Paul’s rally in Louisville were intended, his aides said, to “look like America”.

The carefully selected row of supporters consisted of only one white man with a long beard – the libertarian stereotype.

Neither was there the quorum of ponytails and scruffy students that would typically be expected at one of his father’s rallies.

But the crowd certainly looked more mixed than a traditional Republican event.

Brandon Shepherd, a 22-year-old student – sporting beard, ponytail and scruffy jacket – said he was drawn to Paul’s message of “small government, more focus on the economy here and less involvement in world affairs”.

He was undeterred by Paul’s recent foreign policy shifts, or his ambiguous answers on climate change and gay rights which, Shepherds said, were probably at odds with his own views.

“I understand he’s got to do that,” he said. “He’s trying to appeal to the Republican party.”