On radio this morning, Glenn spoke to Mississippi State Senator Chris McDaniel about his campaign to unseat longtime incumbent U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the upcoming midterm election. Sen. Cochran has been in office a combined 41 years between his time as representative and senator, and McDaniel is looking to breathe new life into the seat. FreedomWorks has formally endorsed McDaniel, and he spoke openly to Glenn about his conservative roots.
Glenn first asked McDaniel to explain how he differs ideologically from Sen, Cochran, who enjoys the backing of the establishment GOP and a newly formed Super PAC.
“Well, in short, I value the Constitution, and I value liberty. And Senator Cochran has actually been in Washington for 41 years. He was a representative prior to being in the Senate,” McDaniel said. “The primary difference is I'm a liberty-based conservative – a Jeffersonian at heart, a Reaganite. Senator Cochran is not. He's more inclined to be a statist.”
“This is one of the guys that voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He's voted to increase the debt ceiling eleven times for more than $7.2 trillion,” he continued. “He's voting for higher taxes – higher gas taxes, higher Internet taxes, President [George H.W.] Bush’s tax increase. He voted for taxpayer-funded abortions. In Mississippi, that's almost unheard of.”
There is a litany of issues Congress will face in the coming months, and Glenn asked McDaniel to run through his stance on several hot-button topics.
Immigration
“It's very simple: Absolutely no to amnesty, close the borders, enforce the law… This is not a time to surrender or compromise on the issue of immigration reform,” he said. “Stand and be tough and do the right thing. I have been fighting that fight since 2008 in Mississippi and coauthored one of our fist illegal immigration measures during that year.”
Obamacare
“I was the state's lead council in the lawsuit. I represented now governor Phil Bryant in a class action, and we fought Obamacare all the way to the Supreme Court. I did that free of charge, pro bono, on behalf of the people, on behalf of my governor, and behalf of the Constitution,” McDaniel said. “I am very much against Obamacare. It doesn't need a Band-Aid. It doesn't need to be made more efficient. It needs to be repealed immediately. We need to put a knife through it – kill the act, kill the legislation, and move forward. Allow the states and people to begin to experiment in that arena… It's not too late to go back. Our Constitution demands we go back.”
Second Amendment
“I'm if Mississippi, Glenn. We love the Second Amendment. I’ll be a pro-Second Amendment guy. It represent our individual right to bear arms, not a collective right – a right I have fought for my entire life in the state senate and other ways,” he explained. “I’m a big proponent of the Constitution. It means exactly what it says and says exactly what it means. And the Second Amendment is just as precious, if not more so than the First or the others.”
McDaniel obviously faces an uphill battle, and Glenn asked how he plans to win this race.
You can learn more about his Senate run HERE.
“The people of Mississippi are waking up, waking up to the reality. It is no longer about back room deals. It is no longer and lobbyists selecting our senators. We have to wake the people up again. If they will awaken, there's nothing the American people can't accomplish. This race is not about me. It is not about Thad Cochran. It is about a movement,” McDaniel said. “If the people wake up and they're energized and engaged and enthusiastic, which they are, you are going to see a massive change in this country… If we deliver a strong message of conservatism with bold colors, like Reagan said… you will see the people rise up. They are instinctively conservative. They are instinctively constitutionalists. They are instinctively men and women of freedom. They will fight for us, if we remind them the reason for fighting.”
Watch the entire interview below: