Interview With KY Senate Candidate Matt Bevi
Last month, I wrote about this year’s Senate race in Kentucky with the primary focus on incumbent Senator Mitch McConnell. This time, I have conducted a long-awaited interview with challenger Matt Bevin, who will be going up against McConnell in the May 20th primary. This is the transcript of our recent Q & A session:
JK:Â What drove you to run against incumbent Senator McConnell? Hasn’t he done a lot for Kentucky citizens in the last few years?
Matt Bevin: My goodness – the answer is – has he done a lot for Kentucky citizens in the last few years – he has worked hard to ensure we raised the debt ceiling with no cuts. He’s worked hard to ensure that amnesty stays on the forefront. He has worked hard to fund Obama Care. None of these things are things that the people of Kentucky are particularly thrilled on. I’m running against him because primarily, he’s a man who says one thing in Washington and does something different in Washington, DC. We need true conservative leadership and we need men and women in the US Congress who understands how wealth is created from personal experience.
JK: It seems as though McConnell is just a bit too comfortable in Washington, DC, having served for 30 years in the Senate.
MB: With anybody who’s served for that long, there becomes an attitude of entitlement. We deserve better. We the people of Kentucky deserve men and women who are going to fight for us. [McConnell] is unwilling or unable to defend his own record. His campaign has run millions of dollars of attack ads against me on TV, on radio, on Internet and in mailers. He’s now even calling people I went to high school with! He has a 32% approval rating in this state.
JK: What has the response been to your campaign, and what is the key issue driving your campaign?
MB: The response to our campaign has been overwhelmingly positive. [Voters] know they are tired of Mitch McConnell, inside cronyism, and career politicians. McConnell is not a conservative individual – he has always voted for larger government, for raising the debt ceiling, for amnesty every single time.
JK: What can Congress do to fix Obama Care?
MB: It starts by electing men and women who are willing to repeal Obama Care in 2014. Elect men and women to the US Senate who have the spine to do that. In 2015, elect a President who has the spine to do that. It’s going to take time; it’s not going to happen immediately. The people of Kentucky want it to be done.
JK: If you are elected to the Senate, what would one of your first actions as Senator be?
MB: There’s a number of things – we need to have a balanced budget amendment, we need to repeal Obama Care, we need to do simple things like permanently banning earmarking, inside trading by Members of Congress, repealing the NDAA and indefinite detention of American citizens.
Here in Kentucky on May 20, this is our opportunity. We can’t wait for someone else to do it – (it is) imperative that folks will step up and take ownership of this process. This is our time; this is a race that we can win. People can learn about my campaign at MattBevin.com.
