I think it's safe to say that Senator ted Cruz' demographic of voters falls more in line with Bill O'Reilly than Lena Dunham so Cruz decided to announce his presidential aspirations to a crowd of 10,000 evangelical students who were forced to attend his speech.

If they failed to attend they had to pay a fine.

LYNCHBURG, Va.—Sen. Ted Cruz took the stage to declare his presidential candidacy at Liberty University Monday, surrounded by upwards of 10,000 cheering students. They weren't all here by choice.

Attendance at convocation at Liberty is mandatory, and a group of students clad in "Stand With Rand" shirts sat center stage—directly in view of the cameras—to log their displeasure with having to be here.

“Of course, you want it to appear as if you have a large audience,” said Eli McGowan, who organized the not-so-subtle protest. “We felt like if we didn’t wear shirts showing our true political preference then the media might think we all supported Cruz.”

“They make you come. If you don’t come, you get punished,” said Ana Delgado, a sophomore, who said students face a $10 fine for not showing up at convocation. Delgado wasn’t among those wearing Paul gear. She is undecided about who she’ll support in 2016, but she didn’t like being forced to be part of Cruz’s announcement.

Rand Paul supporters attended the speech, but didn't go quietly.

These guys stood with Rand at the Cruz announcement pic.twitter.com/UTazmG9dPD

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) March 23, 2015