LOUISVILLE - Rand Paul took aim at Washington and his fellow Republicans as he formally launched his presidential bid on Tuesday, railing against his party for catering to special interests and framing himself as an anti-establishment figure with broad voter appeal.

The first-term Kentucky senator and ophthalmologist sought to set himself apart from both his father Ron Paul — an uncompromising libertarian figure who made three unsuccessful runs for the White House — and the rest of the Republican field.


“Too often, when Republicans have won, we’ve squandered our victory by becoming part of the Washington machine,” Paul said during a rousing rally with chants of “President Paul” from the packed crowd at the Galt House Hotel. “If we nominate a candidate who is simply Democrat-light, why bother? What’s the point?”

Paul laid out a staunchly conservative vision that he said was also inclusive, aimed at empowering poorer Americans through greater education and economic opportunities.

To underscore that point, a diverse crowd of supporters was seated behind Paul, showing the cross section of voters to whom Paul is trying to appeal. The staging choice highlighted Paul’s central challenge in the GOP nominating fight - claiming the conservative mantle while winning over a wider group of voters than his father did.

Ron Paul spent more than three decades as a marginalized player in the House of Representatives, in part due to his non-interventionist foreign policy. He had a devoted national following but fell far short of contending in his 2008 and 2012 GOP bids and in his 1988 presidential run as Libertarian party nominee. Even in 2012, at the height of his popularity, Ron Paul failed to win the popular vote in a single state.

The elder Paul did not figure prominently in the production on Tuesday. He was seated on the outer edge of the stage and did not have a speaking role, though Rand Paul briefly thanked his parents for their help getting him through medical school.

Still, Rand Paul, 52, hit on some of the same themes associated with his father, who departed Congress in 2013 but continues to deliver speeches and write doom-and-gloom columns about the dangers posed by the federal government.

“Big government and debt doubled under a Republican administration and is now tripling under Barack Obama’s watch,” Paul said, in an apparent jab at former President George W. Bush whose brother Jeb is a 2016 contender. “We’ve come to take our country back from the special interests that use Washington as their personal piggy bank.”

Paul’s announcement makes him the second official candidate in the Republican field. Fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz launched his campaign last month, and a third Republican senator, Marco Rubio of Florida, is expected to announce his bid next week.

The reaction from the other contenders was generally muted. Before the rally, Cruz emailed a statement welcoming his “friend Rand Paul” into the primary. “His entry into the race will no doubt raise the bar of competition, help make us all stronger, and ultimately ensure that the GOP nominee is equipped to beat Hillary Clinton and to take back the White House for Republicans in 2016,” Cruz said.

Democrats were quick to blast Paul, saying that while he touts himself as a “different” kind of Republican, his policies are still harmful. “This is a classic example of a GOP presidential candidate thinking he can talk his way into our communities while turning his back on us when it comes to his policy prescriptions,” said Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz in a statement.

So far, Paul is trailing in the polls behind both establishment candidates and those considered long shots. A Fox News poll from last week showed Paul pulling 9 percent of the vote among likely GOP voters, behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker at 15 percent, former Florida Gov. Bush at 12 percent, neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 11 percent, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Cruz at 10 percent.

He is also seen as a less attractive target for big donor checks. Paul has ventured into Democratic-leaning territory — particularly Silicon Valley — to seek donations from libertarian-leaning power brokers there. He is also betting on online fundraising to be competitive.

The rally on Tuesday was a manifestation of his attempt to broaden and boost his standing, particularly among young and minority voters. It’s hard to remember a Republican candidate who has so highlighted diversity in a campaign launch: on the stage behind him were women, blacks, and young people – all voting blocs that have broken sharply away from Republicans in recent elections. He promised to be a different kind of GOP figure, and said that Democratic policies had failed minorities.

“Those of us who have enjoyed the American Dream must break down the wall that separates us from ‘the other America,’” said Paul, who has made reforming the criminal justice system — which he says unfairly targets minorities — a central theme of his burgeoning campaign.

Paul also addressed foreign policy, an issue that has exposed him to attacks from rivals who say he’s too dovish and too like his father. On Tuesday, Paul — who has previously articulated a non-interventionist approach and has called for cuts to Pentagon spending — struck a delicate balance.

“We need a national defense robust enough to defend against all attack, modern enough to deter all enemies, and nimble enough to defend our vital interests,” he said. “But we also need a foreign policy that protects American interests and encourages stability — not chaos.”

On Thursday, Paul will try to bolster his foreign policy credibility by staging a campaign event at a venue rich with military symbolism: The deck of the U.S.S.Yorktown, a World War II-era aircraft carrier stationed in South Carolina.

The Kentucky senator’s rise has been meteoric. After spending nearly two decades as a physician and anti-tax activist, he catapulted to national prominence during the 2010 midterms and became the face of an ascendant tea party movement. That year, he demolished then-Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the handpicked choice of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, in the primary; In the fall, he easily prevailed over state Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat, in the general election.

Paul immediately made a splash in the Senate, becoming the chamber’s leading libertarian voice. In March 2013, he drew headlines for staging a nearly 13-hour filibuster in which he protested the Obama administration’s use of drone strikes.

Many Republicans see Paul’s task as threading a needle as he tries to maintain the support of tea party activists and libertarians who propelled him to power while also expanding beyond their base of support.

“His victory lies in his ability to enthuse enough self-identified independents to the polls while keeping his father’s followers satisfied and skeptics of his foreign policy stances muted,” said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster who worked on Newt Gingrich’s 2012 campaign.

The balancing act may prove challenging. John McLaughlin, a Republican pollster who has worked for several past presidential candidates, pointed out that even if Paul fared strongly in conservative early primary states he would need to find a path in the larger, more politically and demographically complex states that succeeded them on the calendar.

“He’s cliff diving into large multi-state primaries,” McLaughlin said, “that will determine whether or not he has broad national appeal.”