We all know how much Glenn would like to see Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) voted out of the Senate next year, and on radio this morning Glenn interviewed Sen. McConnell’s Republican primary challenger, Matt Bevin. Today is the day Matt will officially file all the necessary paperwork to begin his campaign, and he spoke to Glenn about what his experience has been like thus far and what his hopes are in this race.
“We have Matt Bevin on, candidate for U.S. Senate out of Kentucky. The people that I trust at the Senate Conservatives Fund called [him] the best constitutional candidate they have seen… and they have endorsed [him],” Glenn said. “Today you are filling out the paperwork to officially run for U.S. Senate and go up against Mitch McConnell?”
“This is indeed the day. This is the day that he has tried very desperately to prevent from happening,” Matt said. “When we the people actually are going to stand up and offer folks a true choice in this primary. So it’s an exciting day here in Kentucky.”
Running against any incumbent is an uphill battle, but going up against someone so entrenched in the GOP establishment, who will undoubtedly have a huge war chest, will be no easy task. Glenn asked Matt quite frankly if he actually believed he could pose a real threat to Sen. McConnell.
“The irony is I think it will be harder to beat him in the primary than it will be to beat the Democrat in the general. I have heard from a number of Democrats who are switching parties because they don’t vote Democrat in the general [election] anyway, and a number of Democrats who have said, ‘I can’t switch, won’t switch, but I’ll be with you, you know, for May 21, [2014] on.” I’ve had people working in an Alison Grimes [D-KY] booth wearing an Alison Grimes T-shirt come up to me and say, ‘I’m going to be voting for you.’ So there’s not a lot of enthusiasm for her,” Matt explained. “I think the fact is: We need to eat this elephant one bite at a time. And I think we will continue to take steps forward. Every time I’m on your show, I know you always chuckle when I say the name of my website, but I kid you not, Glenn, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for the amazing bounce that it gets every time I mention MattBevin.com. People come. Your listeners are enthused, they are engaged, and I appreciate that, I really do.”
While Matt understands he is up against the GOP machine, he believes this election will boil down to a fight between limited-government and progressivism.
“But in reality what we are seeing is a battle for the heart and soul, not only of the Republican Party, but for the entire political process because what we are seeing in this race is a microcosm of what’s happening nationally – a battle for whether we the people truly still have a voice and choose to exercise that voice,” Matt said. “Or will we be apathetic? Will we sit on our hands? And will we sit back and wait for the handful to self-propagate and self-select to tell us when and where and how we should line up? And I think it is my job to use the best of my abilities to be a good steward of the talents and skill that I have to exercise the will of the people by being in this race and being their voice. This is a battle between progressivism and limited government, between sometimes paying attention to the Constitution or recognizing it as the law of the land.”
Glenn was quick to warn Matt that it is simple to campaign on the message of being a conservative voice and standing up for the Constitution, but once you arrive in Washington, the political game makes it a difficult promise to follow through on.
“I was called into the oval office and the President was a little pissy – it was Bush. And he said to me, ‘Don’t worry because whoever gets in after me will pretty much do exactly the same thing because they will see that the president’s hands are tied. So no matter who it is, doesn’t matter if it’s, you know, the guy who became president or Hillary Clinton, it won’t matter because they will do almost the same thing,’” Glenn explained. “He tried to say that as a comforting thing. I found that horrifying. Why is it we should believe you – that you’re not going to go in and just become the same thing and realize and be convinced that your hands are tied, Matt?”
“There’s a difference between people who go to cast votes and people who go to be a voice. My pledge to people is to be a voice. I can’t promise that I’m going to do everything perfectly or that 100% of people will always be happy – but rather than just to go vote, I will be a voice to fight for the American people, to fight for conservative values, to fight for limited government, to fight for a restoration of our Constitution and of every one of our constitutional rights that has been eroded,” Matt said emphatically. “I am married, Glenn. I have a wife who loves me. I have nine children who love me. I have a dog that loves me. I am not going to Washington to make friends. I am willing to be the guy who stands there, as folks like Ted Cruz have recently done, and get my teeth kicked in to do the right thing.”
“MattBevin.com, running in Kentucky for the U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell,” Glenn concluded. “Matt, good to have you on and we wish you luck as you file papers today to officially announce your candidacy for U.S. Senate.”
Watch the entire interview below: