Rand Paul, a libertarianish eye doctor who’s courting the votes of techies, conservatives, African-Americans and fans of Edward Snowden, is often called the most interesting candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Here are six things to know about the U.S. senator from Kentucky.
1. He’s going harder after African-American votes than any other Republican presidential candidate.
Paul is reaching out to black voters, including appearances at historically black colleges. It hasn’t always gone well. At Howard University, Paul had to defend 2010 statements in which he’d questioned whether the Civil Rights Act should forbid discrimination at private businesses. (Paul told the Howard students he’s “never wavered” in his support of the 1964 act.)
Paul’s recent address at Bowie State was smoother, and he’s been talking about economic disparity and calling the criminal justice system unfair to African-Americans. Paul traveled to Ferguson, Mo., a city wracked by protests over the police shooting of an unarmed black teenager last summer, and called for the national demilitarization of police.
2. He can make a blind man see.
Paul was an ophthalmologist in Bowling Green, Ky., before he ran for office. He still does pro bono eye surgeries sometimes, and he joined a medical mission to Guatemala last year – in between campaign trips to early primary-voting states.
3. His dad.
His father is Ron Paul, a former presidential candidate and libertarian icon, and Rand Paul benefits from the campaign operation his dad built. But while father and son are said to be close, it can’t be comfortable for Rand Paul’s campaign to have his father out doing things like talking up the benefits of secession.
The senator, in the meantime, is moving away from his own libertarianish positions on defense and foreign policy as he positions himself more in the Republican mainstream.
4. He doesn’t have an undergrad degree.
While Paul has a medical degree from Duke University, he never received an undergraduate degree. He went to Baylor University for three years but left after getting into medical school. Duke apparently didn’t require a bachelor’s degree at that point for med school, but it now does.
5. He stood on the Senate floor for 13 hours.
Paul’s entry to national prominence might be traced to the 13-hour filibuster he launched on the Senate floor two years ago in protest of what he deemed a risk of drone strikes to U.S. citizens on American soil.
Thirteen hours is a long while to talk, and Paul passed the time by coming up with hypotheticals about who might be targeted in a drone strike. “It’s one thing if you want to try her for treason, but are you just going to drop a drone Hellfire missile on Jane Fonda?” he mused at one point.
6. He wants to be the hipster tech candidate.
Wearing his signature Steve Jobs-style turtleneck, the 52-year-old Paul was the only presidential hopeful to show up at the South by Southwest music, film and technology conference last month in Austin, Texas, taking in a show by DJ Mark Ronson and talking about Snapchat.
Paul opened an office in an Austin startup incubator, and he plans a San Francisco office as well. He’s accepting campaign donations in the digital currency bitcoin (1 bitcoin is worth about $257).