U.S. Senator Rand Paul was interviewed by Fox News’ Megyn Kelly on Monday evening. Kelly asked for a response from Paul on his colleague U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) announcement that he is running for President.
“The interesting thing is that I don’t find much that I disagree with,” Paul, who is expected to announce his own candidacy on April 7th, said. “The thing is we kind of come from the same wing of the party and if you look at our voting records you’ll find that we are very, very similar.”
Paul then noted the difference between Cruz and himself.
“I guess what makes us different would be our approach to how we would make the party bigger,” Paul added. “And I’m a big believer that you should stand on principle and be true to your principles, but I also think that we should take those principles and try to bring in new people with them.”
Paul has visited several college campuses, including the University of California-Berkley, where his message has been primarily focused on defending the 4th Amendment and privacy issues.
Addressing Cruz’s speech, that many would describe as “red meat”, Paul said Republicans need to go beyond that. “It is not just about rousing the base. It’s about exciting the base by being for the principles of liberty, not diluting them, and taking them to the people and bring them back into the party. That’s the way you win general elections,” Paul noted.
Paul cited polling that indicates he would be the best person to run against Hillary Clinton.
“When you see the polling so far no one is doing better against Hillary Clinton than myself because we are already picking up 3 to 5 percent or more of the independent vote above what the others are picking up,” Paul stated.
“I’m the only one who beats Hillary Clinton in certain purple states. I am the only one who scores above all of the other Republicans in whether or not I can beat her,” Paul asserted. “So there will be a lot of conservatives. Ted Cruz is a conservative, but it also goes to winability, and people will have to make a decision which is the Republican who can not only excite the base, but can also bring new people into the party without giving up principles.”
You can watch the interview below:
