Ted Cruz beat all expectations - and Donald Trump - at yesterday's caucuses in Iowa.
The Texas senator won 28 per cent of the vote, with his billionaire businessman rival coming in a close second with 24 per cent. The New Hampshire primary is next, where Trump has polled strongly, averaging 33 per cent to Cruz's 12 per cent. But if Cruz manages to triumph there, he stands a good chance of gaining enough momentum to become the official Republican nominee for the US presidential elections. So just who is he?
Who is Ted Cruz?
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A Princeton and Harvard graduate, Cruz is of Cuban descent, Canada-born and Texas-bred. Once called "the distinguished wacko bird from Texas" by GQ magazine, he started out as one of George W Bush's campaign advisors in 1999. He is also the former solicitor general of Texas as well as a lawyer to big business names such as Pfizer and Toyota. He moved to national politics in 2012, becoming the Republican senator for Texas with public endorsement from the likes of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, although she has chosen to back Trump in the race for the White House.
What's he done so far?
As senator, he has backed more than 50 bills, some more controversial than others. Among these are a repeal of the ObamaCare healthcare law, a proposal to prohibit the use of drones to kill US citizens while on US soil, a move to make it harder for criminals to obtain firearms and a bill backing offshore oil drilling and fracking. On Capitol Hill, he enraged former speaker of the house John Boehner when he tried to shut down the government over the ObamaCare negotiations and has criticised colleagues publicly, thus alienating most of the Grand Old Party's leadership.
What does he stand for?
Cruz is a staunch Christian and the son of a pastor, so he derives a lot of his power base from the Evangelical community.
To his voters, he is also the anti-establishment, grass-roots Republican who wants to do away with corruption in the party, something he made this clear when addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014: "How do we win elections? In the contrast between corrupt Washington and the American people," he told them. To that effect, he's dubbed his campaign the "Movement for Courageous Conservatives" and based on his Iowa win, it seems to be working.
On major issues, Cruz's stance is extremely conservative: he is decidedly against President Barack Obama and the ObamaCare, as well as the Dream act, which aims to help children in the US without any legal documents, and any move to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. He also strongly supports the Second Amendment on gun ownership and the death penalty, as well as being pro-life and against same-sex marriages or civil partnerships. And he's a climate-change denier, too.
On foreign affairs, Cruz has declared previously that "carpet-bombing" Syria "until the sand glowed" would be a good idea to deal with Islamic State. He's also all for putting a halt to the Iran negotiations, bringing back tougher sanctions and tightening the US-Israeli relationship, which he says is a "strategic bedrock" for defence.
Can he win the nomination?
His strained relationship with the Republican Party leadership would make that difficult, but his Tea Party credentials and Evangelical community power-base can provide him with enough votes for momentum, says The Guardian. On the other hand, he and Trump are both fighting for the anti-establishment position, splitting the vote, says CNN. In that case, Florida senator Marco Rubio, already a surprise third in Iowa, might step in and pick up the undecided.
