Rafael Edward Cruz is an American politician and lawyer, served as a young US Senator from Texas since 2013. A Republican member, Cruz was the Attorney General of Texas from 2003 to 2008. After graduating from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Cruz pursued a career in government. He was a political advisor in the George W. Bush administration before becoming general counsel for Texas from 2003 to 2008. In 2012, Cruz was elected to the United States Senate, becoming Hispanic, the first house being a United States Senator from Texas. In the Senate, Cruz has always had conservative opinions on economic and social policy; he played a leading role in shutting down the US federal government in 2013, seeking to force Congress and President Barack Obama to reject the Affordable Care Act. He was re-elected in an almost extraordinary Senate race in 2018 against Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke.

In 2013, he became the first Hispanic and the first minority to be elected to the United States Senate from Texas, as a Tea Party politician of Cuban origin. In 2012, he was elected vice-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.