Army veteran and former NFL player Jake Bequette announced his bid for Arkansas Senator Monday with a campaign ad that blasted both Democrats and Republicans in Washington.
"What's happening in Washington these days is a disgrace," Bequette said in the ad. "Democrats have been taken over by radical socialists and too many Republicans just go along to get along."
Bequette, 32, was a University of Arkansas Razorback and went on to play eight games for the New England Patriots after he was drafted into the NFL in 2012.
He will take on incumbent John Boozeman in the Republican primary next year.
Other primary challengers include Jan Morgan, a gun range owner who lost to Gov. Asa Hutchinson in the 2014 GOP primary. There are three Democrats also running in the deeply red state.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:
Boozman, who was first elected to the seat in 2010 and was reelected in 2016, won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump this year. He reported in April having more than $1.1 million in the bank for his reelection bid. Boozman served in Congress representing northwest Arkansas before was he as elected to the Senate.
Boozman also has the support of other top Republicans in the state, including fellow Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton and former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, who is running for governor.
Bequette's campaign site touts him as "a true conservative who will advance the Trump conservative agenda." Bequette doesn't mention Boozman by name in his announcement video, but in an interview he said he thought the incumbent senator has spent too much time in Washington.
"He's been in Washington for over 20 years. He's going on his third decade in Washington, in the swamp," Bequette told the Associated Press. "I just think it's time for a change, it's time for someone new."
Bequette said he supports repealing the Affordable Care Act. He also called for completing construction of a wall along the United States' border with Mexico that Trump advocated but has been suspended by the Biden administration.
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