Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky may be just the candidate the GOP needs to put a Republican back in the White House, says Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
"He certainly could be … [He's for] very strong, very pro-growth tax reform," Norquist said Tuesday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
Story continues below video.
Note: Watch Newsmax TV now on DIRECTV Ch. 349 and DISH Ch. 223
Get Newsmax TV on your cable system – Click Here Now
"I first met him in Kentucky in his doctor's office when I was running Americans for Tax Reform and he was running the Kentucky Taxpayer's Union.
"When he was running for Senate later, I thought, that's cute. And then boom, did he win big! … He'd be a strong candidate. I like the precedent of a taxpayer advocate becoming president."
On Tuesday, Paul officially threw his hat in the ring for the 2016 election, joining Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who was the first Republican to declare.
Still, Norquist — author of
"End the IRS Before It Ends Us: How to Restore a Low Tax, High Growth, Wealthy America" — said he isn't discounting a Democratic victory via former secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"She could win because she's a Democrat and they're going to have a lot of money and a lot of oomph," he said.
"But she's the past. She was trying to make herself something other than the wife of a former president, so she went and became the person in charge of our foreign policy. The whole reset button. That does not look good."