ELECTION 2020: Democrat Broihier launches campaign against McConnell

Jan. 24--Democrat Mike Broihier has held many labels in his lifetime: Marine, reporter, farmer, educator, father and husband.

But now, he has launched his campaign to run against 30-plus-year incumbent Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, earning him his newest moniker of candidate.

Formerly stationed in Monterey, California, he and his wife Lynn, also a retired marine veteran, shared an interest in sustainable farming sparking their move to Kentucky more than 14 years ago after deciding to retire from the service.

"Both of our fathers were marines so we were born kind of traveling and, once you go into the military, they tell you where to go," Broihier explained. "So what I tell people is that the first place I ever picked to live is Kentucky... We picked Kentucky and we have really thrown ourselves into Kentucky."

Since planting their roots in the Bluegrass, the couple has raised grass-fed beef, poultry, pigs and sheep on a 75-acre farm in Lincoln County.

Broihier and his wife recently established the largest all-natural asparagus operation in central Kentucky supplying their niche crop to farmers markets and farm-to-table restaurants in the city of Lexington, according to his campaign website.

And just like farming, when Broihier took the dive into politics, it was a venture he had never taken before.

What prompted him to do so, he told The Register, was that he could no longer "close the gate" on the political situation plaguing the country and commonwealth.

"We have been happily minding our business for the last 15 years," he said of he and his wife. "And we are pretty self sufficient...The biggest temptation of things that have really devolved in the political situation is to kind of just close the gate, and we can't do it. We couldn't do it.

"It was a growing realization that President Trump is a symptom. He is not a cause, he is a symptom. It was guys like Mitch McConnell that are enjoying the smoke and the noise that is coming out of the White House. It was the cover for them doing the things they want to do instead of the things they are supposed to be doing."

Another realization, which he said propelled him into the 2020 race, was that no one like him had ever gone up against McConnell, who was first elected as Kentucky's U.S. Senator in 1984.

"(Kentucky) has always run Republican-lites, middle of the road recycled Kentucky politicians against him and it's like 'Oh darn, he beat us again,'" he said. "(Broihier and his wife) have lived filled lives, it was kind of like jumping off the cliff to become farmers after we retired from the military, having no experience. People are like, 'You did what?' Even then people were going, 'Well, you are crazy.' You should have heard them when I said, 'I am going to run against Mitch McConnell.'"

Broihier stated going after McConnell is something that needed to be done, and that his broad resume was something that gave him a leg up on the longtime Senator and other candidates.

"I never wanted to be a politician, not my bag," he said. "But I can beat him, and it is important for the country. Not just Kentucky, but the country. But I think we should run the person with the highest likelihood of beating him, which I think is me."

When asked about issues pertinent to him and his campaign, Broihier said his platform is based on social and economic justice, which are more intertwined than people believe.

"They are just so entwined, that even as I have gotten deeper into my campaign, I have seen them as just social issues and economic issues. But there is not one thing that is a social justice issue that does not have some economic component and vice versa," he said.

He said one thing a person often hears in Kentucky politics is of an urban and rural divide, which he does not necessarily see to be the case, prompting his campaign goal to find "commonalities across the commonwealth."

"The issues in say the west end of Louisville are they want clear air, clean water and good schools," he stated. "You then have people in Martin County who can't afford drinking water if the county could deliver clean drinking water. So I mean, the difference between a very rural Eastern Kentucky county and west end of Louisville: they're still dealing with the opioid crisis, they are still dealing with incarceration, they are still dealing with bad environment and poorly funded schools. So my campaign has really been about finding commonalities across the commonwealth."

In looking to the future over the course of his campaign, Broihier said the aspect he is most excited about in his new journey is the people he will meet along the way.

"You get to meet the coolest people and the most interesting people out of nowhere. People who have done amazing things with their lives," he said. "You get to meet old veterans, pioneers in women's rights and women's reproductive rights struggles. You get to meet people who were at the ground floor of the civil rights struggle back in the 1960s. As a taxpayer or resident, I would have never had the opportunity or occasion to meet with them...that is the best part of it."

Reach Taylor Six at 624-6623 or follow her on Twitter at @TaylorSixRR.

___

(c)2020 the Richmond Register (Richmond, Ky.)

Visit the Richmond Register (Richmond, Ky.) at richmondregister.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.