Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is making it official Tuesday: He will seek the Republican nomination for president.  

Paul will announce his candidacy to a crowd at the Galt House in Louisville. He’ll follow his announcement with a tour through the early presidential primary and caucus states — New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada — over the remainder of the congressional recess week.  

He’ll hold a Facebook town hall meeting after his Louisville rally and take questions.  

The announcement comes as no surprise; Paul has been open about his presidential ambitions and his team floated the announcement date to make sure none of the many Republican hopefuls would steal his spotlight.  

Paul will have to multitask over the next 20 months. His Senate term ends in 2016, and in December he announced he would seek re-election  even while running to replace President Barack Obama.  

Kentucky law prohibits any candidate from appearing on the ballot twice, which would prohibit him from seeking both offices simultaneously. But Paul’s allies have likely found a way around that. They pushed for Kentucky’s presidential primary to be changed to a caucus , which would mean Paul’s name would only be on the ballot for Senate. The proposal was approved by the Kentucky GOP’s executive committee, but must still face a vote of the full committee in August.  

Paul is the second Republican to announce his candidacy for president. His Senate colleague, Sen. Ted Cruz, launched his campaign two weeks ago.  

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