Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul announced on Tuesday that he will seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, declaring flatly on his website: "I am running for president."
Paul, son of three-time presidential candidate and former Congressman Ron Paul, becomes the second Republican to declare his candidacy for the White House, following Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Here are 30 things you need to know about the first-term senator, some significant, others more trivial:
1. His real name is Randal. Growing up, he went by the name Randy. His wife shortened it to Rand.
2. Paul never earned an undergraduate degree. He attended Baylor University, but left before graduating when he was accepted into the Duke University School of Medicine. At the time, Duke did not require an undergraduate degree for admission to its graduate school, a policy that the school has since changed.
3. He earned an M.D. degree in 1988 and completed his ophthalmology residency in 1993.
4. Paul still practices ophthalmology, performing pro-bono surgeries on low-income residents in Kentucky and abroad. Last year, he performed cataract surgeries in Guatemala.
5. Paul was certified by the National Board of Ophthalmology, which he co-founded, when he served as the organization's president and his wife was vice president.
6. Paul met his wife, Kelley, at a backyard oyster roast in Atlanta. She is a freelance writer and lives with Rand in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They have three sons.
7. Paul's first foray into politics came when he managed his father Ron Paul's Senate campaign.
8. When Rand Paul was sworn in as a senator on Jan. 5, 2011, it marked the first time in congressional history that someone served in the Senate while a parent simultaneously served in the House.
9. Paul was a co-founder of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, along with Jim DeMint and Mike Lee.
10. Paul believes that Social Security and Medicare should be handed over to Wall Street CEOs and healthcare executives so the benefit programs can be privatized and made profitable.
11. He opposes any minimum wage.
12. He describes himself as "100 percent pro-life" and believes legal personhood begins at conception.
13. On the legalization of same-sex marriage, Paul believes the issue should be dealt with by the states and said he would not support a federal ban.
14. Paul favors abolishing the National Security Agency.
15. He said Edward Snowden should receive a light sentence for leaking classified information about the NSA.
16. The senator made his mark in Washington in March 2013, conducting a nearly 13-hour filibuster opposing the nomination of John Brennan as director of the CIA in a protest over President Obama's drone policy.
17. His first legislative proposal was to cut $500 billion from the federal budget in one year. The proposal included eliminating the Department of Housing and Urban Development, cutting food stamps by 30 percent, and eliminating international aid.
18. He favors a gradual legalization of drugs. He sponsored bills in Congress to open the door to medical marijuana and supported measure to lower or eliminate penalties on nonviolent drug users.
19. Paul was dissed by fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham. Appearing on "Face the Nation," Graham said he favors keeping the current sanctions on Iran in place and letting a new president negotiate a policy in 2017. "The best deal, I think, comes with a new president. Hillary Clinton would do better [than what the Obama administration negotiated]. I think everybody on our side, except maybe Rand Paul, could do better."
20. Paul is the author of "Government Bullies: How Everyday Americans Are Being Harassed, Abused, and Imprisoned by the Feds," and co-author of "The Tea Party Goes to Washington."
21. Paul has four siblings and was baptized in the Episcopal Church.
22. He is an active tweeter and often uses Twitter to comment on political issues and other politicians.
23. When Sen. Marco Rubio criticized President Obama's new policy regarding Cuba, Paul tweeted that Rubio was "acting like an isolationist who wants to retreat to our borders and perhaps build a moat. I reject this isolationism."
24. Paul learned Spanish while growing up in Texas.
25. He created controversy when he suggested that vaccinations should be voluntary. He later stepped back from that position and tweeted a photo showing him getting a booster shot.
26. The Washington Times ceased publishing a weekly column Paul had been contributing when it came to light that an op-ed piece Paul had delivered to the paper contained material plagiarized from another writer.
27. Paul is a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
28. Paul opposes all forms of gun control.
29. Paul's favorite band is Rush. But when he used their music in his 2010 Senate campaign ads and events, the rock group's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to his campaign.
30. Under a Kentucky election law that prohibits a candidate from appearing on the ballot twice in the same election year, Paul would not be able to run for president and for re-election to the Senate in the same year. However, a change in state party rules that is likely to be adopted would permit him to seek re-election to the Senate while running for president.
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