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LOUISVILLE Sen. Rand Paul, the maverick first-term senator who rode a tea party wave from a Kentucky ophthalmology practice to Congress, made a vigorous appeal Tuesday to conservatives angry with both parties as he entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Unveiling his campaign at a hotel ballroom here, Paul offered himself as a singular voice and fresh-faced disrupter of the entrenched political order.

Pauls appeal was rooted in part in the purist libertarian plank championed for decades by his father, former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. But the senator also seeks to move beyond his fathers base by stitching together a nontraditional coalition among disparate blocs of voters who share frustration with the federal governments role in their lives, whether evangelicals, tea party activists or tech-savvy millennials.

Paul pledged to be a combative envoy in a crowded and competitive GOP field that is likely to feature at least a half-dozen formidable candidates.

[Watch Rand Paul: We have come to take our country back.]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) officially announced his campaign for president in 2016 in his home state of Kentucky. Here are his full remarks. (AP)

I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words: We have come to take our country back, Paul said at the start of a 30-minute speech heavy on populism. We have come to take our country back from the special interests that use Washington as their personal piggy bank.

Flanked by American flags, Paul, 52, emphasized inclusion for a party that has struggled to adapt to national demographic changes and has fumbled the past two presidential elections. While the setting was one of a classic launch a dark-suited, flag-pin-wearing senator speaking on a ballroom stage Paul said he would reach out to all Americans who have tuned out of the political process and have become weary of partisanship.

Paul fleshed out pillars of his emerging, eclectic platform: amending the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget and congressional term limits, offering school choice for students, making investments in the nations highways and bridges, and repealing any law that disproportionately incarcerates people of color.

The message of liberty, opportunity and justice is for all Americans, whether you wear a suit, a uniform or overalls, whether youre white or black, rich or poor, Paul said. Many Americans, though, are being left behind. The reward of work seems beyond their grasp. Under the watch of both parties, the poor seem to get poorer and the rich get richer.

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Rand Paul launches 2016 bid as a fresh-faced disrupter in the field