I’m proud to have served my country. For 26 years, I served first in the Navy, then the Air Force, rooting out corruption as a JAG officer. So, when I see a system that doesn’t serve regular folks but just a select few at the top, I feel a need to make whatever changes I can.
Senator John Thune is the epitome of what is wrong with career politicians, and most importantly, today’s Republican politicians. Part of the reason why he doesn’t ignite change is because he has no interest in changing the system to benefit everyday South Dakotans because he’s not a regular South Dakotan. The other part is that the system is designed to benefit people like him.
My opponent has taken money from every corporation imaginable. If a corporation has a PAC, I can pretty much guarantee that they’ve given my opponent a contribution over the 24 years he’s been an elected official. How can we trust a politician who doesn’t draw the line at insulin manufacturers five days before a vote to cap insulin prices? If you’re wondering how that turned out, it went exactly as you’d expect. Senator John Thune took $2500 from Eli Lilly, one of the top three insulin manufacturers in the country, on August 2nd. He voted against capping insulin at $35 on August 7th. Then, he took another $2500 from Eli Lilly on September 22nd.
This is the record of someone who stepped up to serve himself, not to serve his country or to serve South Dakotans. Watch my ad here to see how I’m telling my story to South Dakotans.
South Dakotans deserve a Senator who will keep his promises. In 2004, John Thune ran because he claimed his opponent spent too much time in D.C. and was too focused on leadership. But just two years prior, when John Thune lost his seat in the House of Representatives, he didn’t return to South Dakota to make a difference in his community. He took a lobbying job to serve himself. John Thune also ran on his word to serve only two terms in the Senate yet he’s now running for his fourth term. I’ve signed the term limits pledge and the no corporate PAC money pledge and I will follow through on my promises.
South Dakota is one of the cheapest states in the country to put our message up on TV. The costs of communicating with voters is 5-10% of the cost of communicating with the same share of voters in battleground states this year. We actually need to turn out less than 250,000 people to flip this seat on November 8th. To help us keep our ad on the air please chip in here.
This is our shot to take down the #2 Republican in the Senate. He’s Mitch McConnell’s right hand man and Big Pharma’s favorite Senator. For just about every bill proposed in the Senate to help regular folks, John Thune made sure that enough Republican Senators would vote against it to sink it. Together, we can take down a Senator who cannot be bothered to serve regular people.