Republican senate candidate Matt Bevin filed paperwork today with the Kentucky Secretary of State’s Office to officially run against Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Bevin’s press conference in the Capitol rotunda was meant to draw attention to a race that won’t happen for months.
It’s not often you hear a chorus of bells ringing throughout the state capitol. But then, Matt Bevin, a bell manufacturer looking to unseat Kentucky’s most powerful politician, doesn’t often show up with dozens of supporters to soapbox months in advance of a Republican primary.
“I am now officially a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate,” Bevin said.
Bevin riled his conservative base along familiar lines and made frequent jabs against McConnell.
“All this power and influence that supposedly harnessed by our senior senator, he seems to be the only one who’s benefiting from that personal power and influence. That has to end,” he said.
Poll after poll shows Bevin trailing by wide margins, and McConnell’s fundraising advantage—not to mention the threat of political death to anyone who aids Bevin—has forced the challenger to dig into his own pockets.
But Bevin said he plans to raise millions, and that help is on the way.
“The troops are coming,” he said. “Our backups are coming. And we the people… we the people… we the people will win this race. Thank you, and God bless you.”
