The 2016 candidates were roughly divided into three camps, with grassroots conservatives represented by Cruz and Carson, the Christian right represented by Huckabee and Santorum, and moderates (or establishment) represented by Bush and Christie. Several—such as Rubio, Walker, and Kasich—were seen as having political backgrounds that may be appealing to both conservatives and moderates. Additionally, not all of these candidates clearly toed the grassroots/establishment divide; for instance, Rubio and Cruz were both elected to the Senate in the early 2010s as members of the Tea Party movement, but by 2015 had been courting the support of prominent party elders, political operatives, and large donors with significant success. In contrast, only three of the candidates, Carson, Trump and Fiorina, were true non-establishment candidates in the sense that they had no formal political experience; though Fiorina is widely considered to have views in line with the establishment wing led by Bush and Christie. Some called the diversity of candidates representing different wings of the party symptomatic of a struggle for the future direction of the party.
