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U.S. Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday officially threw his hat in the ring for the 2016 White House run, depicting himself as the opposite to "career politicians," and said he could "beat the Washington machine."
"Washington is horribly broken. I fear it can't be fixed from within," Paul told a cheering crowd during his rally at Louisville, Kentucky. "Too often when Republicans have won, we have squandered our victory by becoming part of the Washington machine. That's not who I am."
Serving his first term in Senate, the former eye surgeon from Kentucky boasts a reputation for challenging the Republican establishment and is therefore often viewed by many as leaning to the Tea Party Movement.
"It seems to me that both parties and the entire political system are to blame," said Paul at the rally. "I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words. We have come to take our country back."
Paul is so far the second contender across the aisle to announce the 2016 presidential candidacy. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a darling of the conservative Tea party, announced his White house bid on March 23.
Paul, who entered Congress on the Tea Party wave in 2010, aimed at garnering allegiance from not only mainstream voters but minorities and young voters, whom the Republican Party failed to win over in past elections.
"The message of liberty, opportunity and justice is for all Americans, whether you wear a suit, a uniform or overalls, whether you're white or black, rich or poor," Paul said.
Advocating for the dismantling of the notorious phone data collection program from the very beginning, Paul was set to stand out among more than dozen Republicans who had so far expressed serious interests in a 2016 run.
"Warrantless searches of Americans' phones and computer records are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties," said Paul. " And as president on day one, I will immediately end this unconstitutional surveillance."
Meanwhile, Paul sought to expand the support by libertarian Republicans to a more mainstream Republican audience by embracing a more hawkish policy policy.
"The enemy is radical Islam. You can't get around it," said Paul, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama's reluctance to identify the threat posed by the extremist group the Islamic State as "Islamic extremism."
"And not only will I name the enemy, I will do whatever it takes to defend America from these haters of mankind," he added, stressing his willingness to use force when necessary.
The remarks represented a noticeable shift from Paul's previous non-interventionist stances often assailed by defense hawks from his own party.
In a new poll by ABC News and The Washington Post, Paul has 8 percent of supporting rate in the GOP, falling behind the party's leading potential candidate Jeb Bush's 21 percent.
