--- title: Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign description: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson launched a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, promising to run a different kind of campaign. canonical: https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-04T16:02:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:11.623Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign og:description: He promised a different kind of campaign, starting with the launch itself. og:url: https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e30425433d83e68/6987ee3a428a9e3780ccb3cf/ben-carson3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican U.S. presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, May 4, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign twitter:description: He promised a different kind of campaign, starting with the launch itself. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e30425433d83e68/6987ee3a428a9e3780ccb3cf/ben-carson3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 4, 2015 4:02 PM UTC  Republican U.S. presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, May 4, 2015. Republican U.S. presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, May 4, 2015.Rebecca Cook—Reuters by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith May 4, 2015 4:02 PM UTC Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson launched a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, promising to run a different kind of campaign and proving the point with one of the most unusual campaign launches in recent memory. The Detroit event featured the candidate’s wife playing violin on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a gospel choir covering Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” and a men’s vocal group singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from the musical “Carousel,” among other things. Wearing a headset microphone and speaking with a doctor’s never-varying bedside manner, Carson recounted his troubled childhood, told a few corny jokes, lambasted liberal utopianism, discussed his Christian faith and promised to return the U.S. Constitution “to the top shelf.” “I’m not a politician,” he said. “I don’t want to be a politician because politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what’s right.” ### See 10 Presidential Campaign Launches  Mitt Romney launched his second campaign on June 2, 2011, in the first primary state, New Hampshire, with a scathing attack on President Obama's economic record. Stephan Savoia—AP  John McCain launched his second campaign on April 25, 2007, in New Hampshire with a speech that began with the Iraq War and foreign policy. Stephan Savoia—AP  Barack Obama launched his campaign before the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on Feb. 10, 2007, with a speech that referenced Abraham Lincoln. Mark Cowan—Bloomberg/Getty Images  Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign on Jan. 20, 2007, by posting the words "I'm in" on her website. AP  John Kerry launched his presidential campaign on Sept. 2, 2003, in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., with a speech about the Iraq War. Lawrence Jackson—AP  June 16, 1999 Carthage, Tenn. Ron Edmonds—AP  George W. Bush launched his first campaign on June 12, 1999, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with a speech about "compassionate conservatism." Harry Hamburg—New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images  Bill Clinton launched his first campaign on Oct. 3, 1991, in Little Rock, Ark., with a speech about change. Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images  George H.W. Bush announced his first presidential campaign on Oct. 12, 1987, in Houston, Texas, with a speech about his work as vice president. Ed Kolenovsky—AP  Ronald Reagan launched his presidential campaign on Nov. 13, 1979,in New York City with a speech about the role of government. Walt Zeboski—AP Like many candidates, Carson used his personal story to sketch out his vision of America and introduce himself to voters. He recounted how his mother, who had only a third-grade education, scraped together money working two jobs while raising him alone, joking that the United States wouldn’t have a deficit if she were secretary of the Treasury. He also recalled witnessing dire poverty as a child, living among rats and roaches and recalling when he and other children were saddened by the death of a drug dealer who used to bring them candy. On policy, Carson called for creating a special tax holiday to allow big businesses to bring foreign earnings back to the U.S., reducing the federal deficit and cutting social programs that “create dependency.” Carson faces an uphill battle for the nomination, coming in toward the back of the crowded GOP pack [in most polls](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016%5Frepublican%5Fpresidential%5Fnomination-3823.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/"},"headline":"Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign","datePublished":"2015-05-04T16:02:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:04:11.623Z","description":"Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson launched a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, promising to run a different kind of campaign.","url":"https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/","keywords":["2016 Election topic","Dr. Benjamin S. Carson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e30425433d83e68/6987ee3a428a9e3780ccb3cf/ben-carson3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e30425433d83e68/6987ee3a428a9e3780ccb3cf/ben-carson3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, May 4, 2015.","caption":"Republican U.S. presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson officially launches his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in Detroit, May 4, 2015.","creditText":"Rebecca Cook—Reuters","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":"https://time.com/3845489/ben-carson-campaign-launch/","name":"Ben Carson Launches 2016 Presidential Campaign"}}]}] ```