Two new names officially entered the race for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, but neither are seasoned politicians. Former neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina are running for the oval office.
Carson made his announcement on WPEC-TV, ahead of an official announcement in his hometown of Detroit today.
“I’m willing to be part of the equation and therefore, I’m announcing my candidacy for President of the United States of America,” Carson told the CBS affiliate in Florida.
Carson is a retired neurosurgeon who rose from poverty and became the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital. He came onto the political scene two years ago during the National Prayer BReakfast, where he came out swinging against Obamacare.
“I’m not 100% sure ‘politics as usual’ is going to save us. I think we are in a severe problem…a problematic situation,” Carson said.
Carson did find himself in the middle of a controversy in March, when he told CNN that being gay is a choice. He later apologized, but insisted that there were “no definitive studies” that prove that “people are born into a specific sexuality.”
Fiorina made her announcement on ABC News. “Yes, I am running for president. I think I am the best person for the job,” she told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America.
She is the first female contender for the GOP nomination and already targeted Hillary Clinton on GMA. “She clearly is not trustworthy, about a whole set of things. She peddled a fiction about [Benghazi, Libya] for a month, she hasn't been transparent about her server and her emails, and now we see now all of these foreign government donations to the Clinton Global Initiative,” Fiorina said.
Fiorinia isn’t completely new to politics. She did run for the California senate seat in 2010, but lost to Se. Barbara Boxer. She was also an economic advisor for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Last year, she started the Unlocking Potential Project to attract more female voters to the Republican Party.
Both Fiorina and Carson will likely struggle thanks to lack of name recognition. More established members of the party - Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul - are already running and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to do so as well.
screenshot from ABC News YouTube video
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