Rand Paul to Announce Presidential Bid on April 7

Rand Paul is expected to announce plans to join the party’s 2016 presidential field on April 7, multiple sources inside Paul’s camp told MSNBC.

“This will be an official announcement, not an exploratory committee,” said a source close to Paul who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss his plans. “Everything will happen pretty quickly over the next couple of weeks,” another source close to Paul told MSNBC.

Paul is set to travel to the four major early voting states immediately after the announcement, aides said. He will host events in Milford, New Hampshire, April 8; Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina on April 9; Iowa City, Iowa on April 10; and Las Vegas, Nevada on April 11.

Paul’s campaign launch is largely dictated by the Senate calendar, his aides told MSNBC. The Senate is in recess from March 30 to April 10, and GOP senators including Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida have been eyeing a possible presidential run as well.

“Part of the reason we let the dates out of bag to begin with was so other candidates won’t plan on announcing that day, we are planting the flag with that date,” a senior Paul official said.