Rand Paul, ready to run, looks to expand his younger base

Daniel Maschi is ready to Stand With Rand.

"Rand Paul is independent, the only Republican speaking against the establishment about ideas that will actually grow the party," said Maschi, 21, of Perkasie, a senior majoring in political science at West Chester University.

After graduation, he plans to help elect the Kentucky senator president.

As Paul prepares to formally enter the 2016 race Tuesday, he is counting on young conservatives and libertarians like Maschi for energy, votes, and volunteer work.

Many young voters are drawn to Paul's get-government-off-my-neck agenda. He rails against domestic spying by the National Security Agency and other threats to privacy. He advocates reform of the criminal justice system and loosening drug laws. And he de-emphasizes divisive social issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.

It's no accident that one of Paul's first events as a declared candidate will be at the University of Iowa student union in heavily Democratic Iowa City.

"No other Republican would do that," said Steve Grubbs, Paul's chief strategist for Iowa, the state that hosts the first votes in the GOP campaign next February. "Rand Paul is in a unique place, as far as his potential to bring new people to the caucuses and the party."

Paul uses Snapchat, trash-talks other candidates on Twitter, and buys targeted attack ads on Google. "If you don't go to a platform where they are, you won't find them," Paul, 52, said recently at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, itself a hipster mlange of music, tech, and culture.

Paul's team hopes to draw historic numbers of young voters to the Republican caucuses and primaries, which have been dominated by older and more evangelical voters.

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Rand Paul, ready to run, looks to expand his younger base