Rand Paul officially announces 2016 run for President

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky kicked off his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination in Louisville with a declaration that he’s running for the White House to “return our country to the principles of liberty and limited government.”

Flags in the background, wearing a dark suit with a flag pin and red tie, Paul promised a government restrained by the Constitution and beholden no more to special interests. “I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words,” he told cheering supporters.

“We have come to take our country back.” Paul is a fierce critic of Washington, where he is in his first term as a senator but seldom in line with his party’s leadership. A banner over the stage in Louisville proclaimed: “Defeat the Washington machine. Unleash the American dream.”

Paul’s challenge now is to convince Republican primary voters and caucus-goers that his is a vision worthy of the GOP presidential nomination.

Paul begins the 2016 race as just the second fully declared candidate, behind Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, but he could face as a massive field for the nomination before the lead-off Iowa caucuses in February.

Check out the full transcript of his speech here.