The Special Forces warrant officer running to unseat renegade Washington Republican Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd Congressional District’s August 2 top-two jungle primary told The Star News Network he is fighting both Beutler and the Republican establishment in an exclusive interview Wednesday.
“I think we’re in the forefront of the Republican civil war because I’m going after an impeachment voter, so we’ve seen the I’d say GOP establishment try to quietly support Jamie Herrera Beutler along with four of the other impeachment voters,” said Joe Kent, who is a combat veteran of more than 20 years of Army service, including 11 deployments, mainly to Iraq.
A Trafalgar Group poll conducted Feb. 11 through Feb. 14 with 697 respondents and a 3.67 percent showed Kent would make the general election contest.
Democrat Brent Hennrich leads the polls with 33 percent the support of respondents, followed by Kent with 26 percent.
The rest of the field: Herrera Beutler, 21 percent; Heidi St. John, 12 percent; Vicki Kraft, five percent, and there were three percent undecided. St. John and Kraft are both Republicans.
Kent, who lost his wife, Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent, in a Jan. 16, 2019 vest-bomber attack in Manbij, Syria, also got the gold ring of endorsements Sept. 1 when he landed the support of President Donald J. Trump.
Joe Kent is a retired Green Beret and Gold Star husband running against RINO and incompetent Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd District of the State of Washington. Joe served his country proudly for many years and understands the tremendous cost of America’s wars in the Middle East, and elsewhere. In Congress, Joe will be a warrior for the America First agenda, unlike Jaime Herrera Beutler who voted, despite the facts, against the Republican Party and for the Democrats’ Impeachment Scam.
Joe Kent is strong on Crime and the Border, loves our Military and our Vets, and will protect our Second Amendment, which is under siege. I met Joe at Dover Air Force Base on the evening that his wife was being brought back from the Middle East, where she had been killed in combat. It was a very sad moment in Joe’s life, but I was incredibly impressed with him and told him that he should someday run for office—we need his voice and leadership in Washington, D.C. Now he is running, and Joe Kent has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Kent said of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump, only four, including Herrera Beutler, remain, but she is getting financial support from House Republican leadership PAC’s – as if she is a Republican in good standing.
“Some of them dropped out, you had the GOP that was supporting half of the impeachment voters quietly while publicly saying very America-First-Trump-y things, because Trump is still at what, 94, 97 percent approval rating with Republican voters,” he said.
The retired Green Beret said despite the GOP establishment supporting the congresswoman, he is holding his own and will have the money he needs to take her on.
“I have $1.3 million; she’s at about $1.7,” he said. “I’ve out-fundraised her two-to-one the last three quarters on individual contributions, so all of her money is coming from either corporate PACs or it’s coming from these leadership PACs from RINOs.”
Kent said he decided to run for Herrera Beutler’s seat because he was tired of double-game, where Republicans say one thing but vote another way on Capitol Hill.
“I felt like there was a very dishonest game being played there where you had the GOP asking the base for money and donations, but at the same time supporting politicians who had done nothing but work against the base,” he said.
“I think a lot of people are seeing that now, and I think there’s probably some calculations being made at a higher level, but right now what I’ve seen is that the GOP establishment is still supporting those who represent the corporate donor class, Wall Street, military-industrial complex, and not the base of the country,” he said.
“I mean Kevin McCarthy’s PAC alone, I mean it’s at $120,000, or so they’ve given her so far,” he said.
“Then, if you throw in all the different leadership PACs from people like Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, et cetera, that’s where the vast majority of her money is coming from.”
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Neil W. McCabe is the national political editor of The Star News Network. Send him news tips: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @neilwmccabe2.
Photo “Joe Kent” by Joe Kent and “Brent Hennrich” is by Brent Hennrich.
Unless you catapult McCarthy and McConnell, things are not going to get better.