--- title: Who Is Carly Fiorina? Ted Cruz's Vice Presidential Pick description: Ted Cruz is expected to announce Wednesday that former candidate Carly Fiorina will be his running mate if he receives the GOP nomination canonical: https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-27T18:51:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:00:03.961Z article:section: Politics og:title: 5 Things to Know About Carly Fiorina og:description: She's Ted Cruz's new running mate—if he can win og:url: https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2537a8fc6edccf2/69887c7ebc6cfc13403dba09/timepol-gop-republican-debate-new-hampshire-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIMEPOL Carly Fiorina og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things to Know About Carly Fiorina twitter:description: She's Ted Cruz's new running mate—if he can win twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2537a8fc6edccf2/69887c7ebc6cfc13403dba09/timepol-gop-republican-debate-new-hampshire-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 5 Things to Know About Carly Fiorina  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 27, 2016 6:51 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Feb. 6, 2016, in Goffstown, N.H. Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Feb. 6, 2016, in Goffstown, N.H.David Goldman—AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 27, 2016 6:51 PM UTC Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz [will announce on Wednesday](http://time.com/4309812/ted-cruz-carly-fiorina-vice-president-running-mate/?xid=homepage) that [former candidate Carly Fiorina](http://time.com/4216109/carly-fiorina-drops-out-new-hampshire-primary-results/) will be his running mate if he receives the party’s nomination, following weeks of the former Hewlett-Packard CEO campaigning for the Texas Senator. Here are five things to know about Fiorina. **She has long been considered a contender for vice president** From the start of her campaign, Fiorina’s presidential candidacy fueled speculation that she would become the vice presidential nominee on the eventual Republican ticket. On the day she [announced her candidacy](http://time.com/3845135/carly-fiorina-2016-presidential-race/) in May 2015, Katie Couric asked Fiorina if she was [running for vice president](http://time.com/3845983/carly-fiorina-vice-president/). “Oh Katie, would you ask a male candidate that question?” Fiorina replied. In the months that followed, Fiorina emphasized that she was vying to be commander in chief and said the VP question was repeatedly directed at her because she was a female candidate. “It would be different, Sean, if all of the other candidates were asked that same question with the same regularity, but they’re not,” she [said in September in a Fox News interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otj5lzbx6qM) with Sean Hannity. “I’m the person who’s asked that question over and over again, and so one can only conclude that I am getting asked that question because I am a woman.” But others continued to predict she’d find a place on the ticket. “I would be surprised if \[Fiorina\] were not selected to be the VP in a campaign where Hillary Clinton is the nominee,” Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill [said at an event hosted by TIME](http://fortune.com/2015/09/18/carly-fiorina-republican-vp/) in September. **Fiorina was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard** She led the technology company from 1999 to 2005, when she was fired by the board amid skepticism about the merger she championed between HP and Compaq and [concerns about her management style](http://time.com/3845767/carly-fiorina-hp/). Fiorina emphasized her business experience during her run for president, but her tenure as CEO was marked by challenges, as Hewlett-Packard struggled through the bust of the tech boom and tens of thousands of people at the company lost their jobs. Criticism about her leadership of the company [made her a controversial figure](http://time.com/3845767/carly-fiorina-hp/) as she launched her campaign, and some have noted that HP’s stock fell significantly during her tenure, performing [roughly twice as poorly](http://fortune.com/2015/09/17/carly-fiorina-business-record/) as the tech-heavy NASDAQ index. HP’s earnings vastly improved once she left the company, and Fortune’s Stephen Gandel says Fiorina [might deserve some credit](http://fortune.com/2015/09/17/carly-fiorina-business-record/) for that success. **She has never held elected office** Fiorina’s background is in business, and she has never before held elected office. She ran for U.S. Senate in California in 2010 but lost to Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer in a landslide. She served as an adviser to 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney and campaigned for 2008 Republican nominee John McCain. When she launched her campaign for president last year, she [said her priorities](http://time.com/3845352/carly-fiorina-2016-campaign-president/) would be to better implement technology in the federal government and to improve the budgeting process at the federal level. She also released a book at the start of her campaign, _Rising to the Challenge,_ in which she [detailed the challenges](http://time.com/3843413/carly-fiorina-rising-challenge-book/) of facing breast cancer and coping with the loss of her stepdaughter. **Fiorina has been campaigning for Cruz** After [dropping out](http://time.com/4216109/carly-fiorina-drops-out-new-hampshire-primary-results/) of the presidential race, Fiorina [endorsed Cruz in early March](http://time.com/4252480/carly-fiorina-endorses-ted-cruz/), calling him “the only guy to beat Donald Trump.” Since then, she has been campaigned for the Texas Senator across the country, praising him as “fearless fighter and reformer” and touting his tendency to “ruffle feathers” and “make enemies” in Washington D.C. ### See Carly Fiorina's Career in Photographs  Carly Fiorina during a news conference on Dec. 31, 1999 at HP headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif. AP  Carly Fiorina rang a bell to virtually open the New York Stock Exchange from HP's headquarters on May 6, 2002 in Palo Alto, Calif. Chris Preovolos—AP  Carly Fiorina, as an adviser to Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, works inside the "Straight Talk Express" on April 24, 2008 in New Orleans. Mary Altaffer—AP  Carly Fiorina, listens as Sen. John McCain speaks during a town hall-style meeting on May 20, 2008 in Miami. Lynne Sladky—AP  Carly Fiorina holds a roundtable discussions with reporters in on Nov. 18, 2009 in Washington. Gerald Herbert—AP  Carly Fiorina and her husband Frank take a tour with Earthfriendly Products vice president, Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, right, on Nov. 4, 2009, in Garden Grove, Calif. Damian Dovarganes—AP  Carly Fiorina talks to a potential voter during her visit to a phone bank during her Senate campaign on June 5, 2010 in Gold River, Calif. Rich Pedroncelli—AP  Meg Whitman, left center, winner of the Republican nomination for governor of California, and Carly Fiorina, the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate from California, are joined by Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, left, and California state senator Tony Strickland as they celebrate at a post-primary election celebration on June 9, 2010 in Anaheim, Calif. Reed Saxon—AP  Carly Fiorina listens to a group of small business owners during a press conference on June 24, 2010 in San Francisco. Eric Risberg—AP  Barbara Boxer speaks as Republican challenger Carly Fiorina looks on during a debate on the campus of Saint Mary's College on Sept. 1, 2010 in Moraga, Calif. Justin Sullivan—AP  Gabriel Lerner, center, asks Carly Fiorina, left, a question during the debate with Barbara Boxer who is in Washington, on Sept. 29, 2010 in Pasadena. Anne Cusack—AP  Carly Fiorina leaves with her husband, Frank, after she campaigned on Oct. 29, 2010 in Menlo Park, Calif. Paul Sakuma—AP  Carly Fiorina speaks to senior citizens at Leisure World on Oct. 30, 2010 in Seal Beach, Calif. Christine Cotter—AP  Carly Fiorina at CPAC on Feb. 26, 2015 in National Harbor, Md. Bill Clark—AP  Carly Fiorina leaves Clear Creek Amana High School after speaking on April 24, 2015 in Tiffin, Iowa. Scott Olson—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina on June 6, 2015 in Boone, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP  Carly Fiorina, shakes hands with employees during a tour of Cirtronics on June 10, 2015, in Milford, N.H. Jim Cole—AP  Carly Fiorina greets fairgoers during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, on Aug. 17, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP  Carly Fiorina marches with her family in the Labor Day parade on Sept. 7, 2015 in Milford, N.H. Kayana Szymczak—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina mingles amid the crowd following the Presidential debate on Sept. 16, 2015 in Simi Valley, Calif. Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty Images  Carly Fiorina speaks to the media after a national security forum on Sept. 22, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. Sean Rayford—Getty Images  Carly Fiorina speaks on Sept. 18, 2015 in Greenville, S.C. Sean Rayford—Getty Images **She has been a vocal opponent of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton** Many who had speculated that Fiorina would make a good Republican running mate thought she would help the GOP win over more women voters, especially in the event of a historic general election involving Clinton as the Democratic nominee. In debates and stump speeches during her primary campaign, Fiorina directly targeted Clinton for her policy positions and political background, adopting a favorite one-liner that Clinton is “more qualified for the big house” than the White House. “The Clinton way—say whatever you have to say, do whatever you have to say, lie as long as you can get away with it,” Fiorina [said at a debate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZjhCFW-ins) in January. “Hillary Clinton cannot be the president of these United States.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/"},"headline":"5 Things to Know About Carly Fiorina","datePublished":"2016-04-27T18:51:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:00:03.961Z","description":"There was speculation long before Ted Cruz tapped her that she could be vice presidential material","url":"https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/","keywords":["ted cruz","2016 Election topic","Carly Fiorina"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2537a8fc6edccf2/69887c7ebc6cfc13403dba09/timepol-gop-republican-debate-new-hampshire-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2537a8fc6edccf2/69887c7ebc6cfc13403dba09/timepol-gop-republican-debate-new-hampshire-carly-fiorina.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIMEPOL Carly Fiorina","caption":"Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Feb. 6, 2016, in Goffstown, N.H.","creditText":"David Goldman—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ted-cruz/","name":"ted cruz"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4309743/carly-fiorina-ted-cruz-running-mate-vice-president-who/","name":"5 Things to Know About Carly Fiorina"}}]}] ```