Deep in Trump country, a Republican vying for a seat in the Senate is wondering why his possible future colleagues can’t pass a key voter ID and citizenship verification bill.
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., cruised to a primary victory Tuesday night in the Sooner State, where he told Fox News Digital in an interview that the one thing he hears from voters constantly is whether Congress will pass the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act.
“They’re saying we need to work on, you know, the SAVE Act,” Hern said ahead of primary Election Day. “I mean, this is time and time again.”
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But the legislation has been stuck in the Senate, where all Democrats have vowed to block it. A cohort of Republicans have voted against the bill in various forms, too.
“This is something I’m not real sure why Republican senators are not supporting,” Hern said. “I understand why Democrats don’t support it. They don’t support anything that protects America.”
Hern has served five terms in the House, where he’s moved up the chain into the fourth-highest role in House GOP leadership as House Republican Policy chair. He also ran for Speaker of the House when former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was ousted.
His decision to leave the House and seek a seat in the Senate came after President Donald Trump nominated fellow Oklahoman, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to lead the DHS.
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Since jumping into the race earlier this year, Hern has amassed a bevy of endorsements from senators and Trump, who lauded the lawmaker as being “strongly supported by the fiercest MAGA Warriors in Oklahoma, and the most Highly Respected Leaders in the United States Senate!”
And Hern knows that Oklahoma is Trump country, noting that voters there “love the president. They love the fact that I support the president and I work with the president.”
Hern likely won’t face strong headwinds in November against one of a half dozen Democratic candidates seeking the nomination in the Sooner State, given that Trump has won the state — and all 77 of its counties — three times.
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That doesn’t mean he intends to rest on his laurels until November. Hern, who grew up without indoor plumbing, said he knows the value of work and preparation. It’s what landed him his own McDonald’s franchise empire in Oklahoma, where he owned 24 restaurants — his past life in business also earned him the nickname “McCongressman.”
“I just respect the idea of work. I think working hard gives you a chance to compete with anybody,” Hern said. “And so, same thing with the Senate race. I came out strong, set a tone from day one.”
“The president endorsed me in the first 48 hours because of the work I’ve done over the last eight years,” he continued. “And I think it goes back to that common word of work and working hard.”
And if successful in November, Hern isn’t shutting down the option of seeking a spot in Senate GOP leadership.
Hern said that throughout his business career he would tell anyone that “if you wait till something comes available, and you start working hard, it’s too late because there are other people like me that have started out in the proverbial parking lot.”
“We’ve got people on third base who think they’re ready to be in leadership, and I’m running right past them, and they say, ‘Who’s this guy?’ And it’s a guy like me that’s just been working hard, positioning, building relationships,” Hern said. “And I think that’s important going forward, and we’ll see what comes open.”
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