During a presidential election cycle it’s easy to lose track of congressional and senate races. These races have been critical for bringing in candidates that tip the scales in the House and the Senate --- candidates like presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
Joining Glenn on radio Tuesday was Ohio congressional contender Warren Davidson.
Listen to the interview or read the transcript below segment below.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: Can you tell me, how is this playing in your district with Kasich coming out and saying amnesty in the first 100 days?
WARREN: It was pretty shocking. You know, frankly there's a lot of things during his time as governor that surprised people when he first took office. I think with his history in Congress being more fiscal conservative, a lot of us were hoping for even more than Mitch Daniels in Indiana.
GLENN: Both of your opponents voted to expand Obamacare in Ohio. They have consistently voted for budget increases. I don't know where they stand on amnesty in the first 100 days. Ohio seems to have lost its way. What makes you different?
WARREN: Well, that's part of why I decided to run. In the fall, when folks encouraged me to consider running, I looked at the field and saw a lot of the same sort of local government, state governments, then try to go on to DC kind of experience and felt I had a background that would offer something different.
And in Ohio, with Kasich as governor, with solid majorities in the House and Senate, even our court, there's really no reason you couldn't accomplish anything on the party platform that you wanted to, if you are governor. And, you know, what it shows is that we didn't accomplish the things that the governor didn't want to accomplish.
GLENN: Warren, you were an Army Ranger, right?
WARREN: I was indeed.
GLENN: How does that play into what you will do and what -- and how you look into things?
WARREN: Well, I think, you know, two things: One, when I served in the Rangers, it was in '98 that our industries in Kenya and Cantania were bombed by al-Qaeda. We sent over the FBI to look into it. They're still checking on things. And really, a lot of people knew better then, that's not how you deal with terrorists.
And, you know, today, we have a commander-in-chief that is not taking this threat as seriously as he out to. On the other side, I think it's a challenging time because it's easy to get lured into another ground war against the terror network. I think the common denominator though is, when I served on active duty, I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. And for me, if I get the chance to serve, it would be swearing that oath again and it would be for that sort of service.
GLENN: So you're not a politician. What did you do between Army Ranger and today?
WARREN: Well, I got out of the army in 2000 and into small manufacturing companies here in Ohio. We had 20 -- 20 employees in a family business when I started. In 2002, I started my own company. And, you know, along the way, we -- I picked up an MBA from Notre Dame. I bought a company from Utah in 2012, brought on a partner in 2013. And, you know, he's got things running smoothly. So I can go step away and do this. And when I talk to him about, hey, I might take a look at doing this run for Congress. He said, go win. But just kind of looking at the sort of experience that the background in business, the time in service, it's resonated really well with voters. And 90 days ago, we filed, on December 16th. And it's been amazing to see the momentum.
GLENN: You've been endorsed by Freedom Works, the Senate conservative fund, Club For Growth and the Family Research Council. You have a long list of people that are endorsing you. But you've also had one of the nasty super PACs, the one that is trying to stop the grassroots, Tea Party conservatives, you've had them come out and spend a ton of dollars in negative advertising against you.
WARREN: Yeah, specifically against me. I mean, they're backed by union dues. They're backed by -- you know, frankly some of the folks that are propping up Kasich's campaign now. And that's really the thing. You have two state legislatures, one from the House and one from the Senate, that aren’t doing well. And I think voters have a choice today. If that's the direction that you want the party and the country to go, you've got two guys on the ballot. And if you want the direction of the country to go the conservative path, I think all these leading conservative organizations and leaders should point the way. The conservative choice is Warren Davidson in this race.
GLENN: Warren Davidson is his name. Congressional from Ohio. Warren Davidson. Remember that name. If you're in Ohio, vote today. Warren, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Good luck.