Ted Cruz Rolls Out First Ad of 2016

Republican Senator and Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz of Texas was first to announce his plans to run, and now he’s the first one to air a 2016 campaign ad.

Cruz’s 30-second spot is called, “Blessing” and will run in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada over the weekend. It’s “a nearly $37,000 advertising buy by the Cruz campaign,” says a report in the New York Times.

“Were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the household,” Mr. Cruz, the Republican from Texas, says in the ad, as images of himself with his family at the dinner table pan across the screen.

The ad will also run during the “Killing Jesus” documentary, which set ratings records for the National Geographic Channel last weekend and will be shown again on Fox News on Friday and Sunday nights.

More, including a transcript, via a release from the Cruz campaign.

The ad features excerpts from Mr. Cruz’s announcement speech at Liberty University, where he spent the first five minutes of his speech detailing his parents’ stories.

The spot is the first presidential ad buy of the 2016 election cycle, appearing much earlier than campaigns have historically run advertisements. It will run at a time when Cruz is the only announced candidate for president for 2016 and several polls show him “vault[ing] into the top tier of GOP contenders,” as one news outlet put it. Cruz made his announcement on March 23 speaking at Liberty University, the world’s largest Christian university.

‘Killing Jesus’ first ran on the National Geographic cable channel with 3.7 million viewers tuning in. The Fox News airing of ‘Killing Jesus’ is expected to draw a similarly large Christian audience.

TRANSCRIPT

“Were it not for the transformative love of Jesus Christ, I would have been raised by a single mom without my father in the household.”

“God’s blessing has been on America from the very beginning of this nation.”

“Over and over again, when we faced impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge.”

“This is our fight, and that is why I’m running for President of the United States.”

“I’m Ted Cruz, and I approve this message.”

The full ad can be seen here and below.