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Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz officially filed the paperwork to run in the New Hampshire primary on Thursday (November 12).
He's the first of three candidates expected to file papers on Thursday, ahead of a November 20 deadline.
When Ted Cruz launched his 2016 presidential campaign last spring, the U.S. Senator from Texas cast himself as the leader of a conservative grassroots army who could shake up Washington and the Republican political establishment.
He sought to further that reputation while filing his papers, telling New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner that efforts to change the state's status as the first in the nation to hold a presidential primary each election cycle are "lunacy."
Since entering the campaign earlier this year, Cruz has seen two rivals, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, eclipse him as anti-establishment candidates in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
He's one of three Republican candidates who filed to compete in the primary on Thursday, along with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.