Manny Sethi Says He Won’t ‘Sell Out to Some Swamp’

 

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Dr. Manny Sethi, a Republican who wants to replace the retiring U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, said Tennessee voters may rest assured he, if elected, won’t fall in with the Washington D.C. establishment.

And if he does replace Alexander then Sethi said his medical background gives him the skill set he needs to do something a lot of U.S. senators cannot —  get his policies enacted into law.

Sethi sat down with The Tennessee Star Friday and described why he thinks grassroots Republicans should pull the lever for him next year.

“I met my wife when I was 16. We have two children, a six-year-old and a three-year-old. I’ve developed a thriving trauma practice in a non-profit. I wouldn’t walk away from that to go up to Washington, D.C. to sell out to some swamp,” Sethi told The Star.

“I’m going out there to keep the American dream alive, the same dream that my parents came here to find. That’s why I’m doing it and that is why the establishment is so scared of me, because they know that I won’t back down. There are things like the debt ceiling. We can’t call ourselves conservatives and spend like we’re spending. We can’t call ourselves conservative when we continue to keep Obamacare alive. That’s crazy. Those are the things I’ll fight for. You have my word.”

As reported earlier this month, former Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty, also a Republican, announced he also wants Alexander’s job.

But Sethi said it’s time for folks outside of government to step up to fix immigration and health care.

“In what I do for a living, I was on call this past weekend, one day at 3 a.m. We had a case where we were dealing with a neurosurgeon, a vascular surgeon, a general surgeon, and together we had about two minutes to make a decision to come together and figure out a plan. Building consensus is a very hard thing to do, but it’s what I do to save lives. I think in the United States Senate it will be no different,” Sethi said.

“You have to bring people along, and you have to be a leader, and that’s what I intend to do. I intend to go up there like folks like Mike Lee from Utah and fight for what’s right. I believe deep in my heart that we can do it.”

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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].