 Carson's sudden popularity among conservatives led to his being invited as a featured speaker at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).He tied for seventh place in the "Washington Times"/CPAC 2013 Straw Poll with 4% of the 3,000 ballots cast.In the 2014 CPAC straw poll, he was in third place with 9% of the vote, behind senators Ted Cruz of Texas (with 11%) and Rand Paul of Kentucky (31%).