Across the country, primary season is in full swing. My home state of Alabama is gearing up for ‘Super Tuesday,’ the March 1 Republican primary, which will feature an interesting 4-way race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by longtime Senator Richard Shelby. With a $19 million campaign war chest, Shelby will face four GOP challengers this primary season.
One challenger is 33-year-old former Marine Captain Jonathan McConnell, a graduate of Auburn University and founder of the global maritime security company Meridian.us. McConnell served in the Marines from 2005 to 2008, where he was stationed on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq in 2006 and was then redeployed to the Syrian Border in 2007 where he commanded the Second Mobile Assault Platoon and was Executive Officer of Weapons Company.
Captain McConnell has said that it is time for Alabamians to “right the ship” in the coming election, emphasizing Shelby’s lengthy 37-year tenure in Congress.
“Approximately half of the state wasn’t even born when Richard Shelby first moved to D.C.,” McConnell said in a statement. “Yet, in the time he’s been in office, the national debt has climbed from $780 billion to over $18.81 trillion. It is obvious to conservative Alabama voters he is not standing for their values.”
McConnell himself has already taken a term-limits pledge, stating that if elected, he would only serve for two terms. Last week, he received the endorsement of the conservative Citizens United PAC.
McConnell noted Sen. Shelby’s “loss of touch” when it comes to issues that are important to millennials.
“What does [Shelby] know about millennials out there looking for a job? He’s been getting a government paycheck for almost 50 years,” McConnell said. “What does he know about creating jobs? What does he know about how hard it is for Obamacare implementation on job creators? And so, I think we do need fresh blood up there.”
Possibly the most important issue to millennials is student debt, and for good reason; under President Obama, student debt has risen by upwards of 517 percent. McConnell attributed some of the accruing debt to the accessibility of federal loans. He said he does not agree with the free tuition plans offered by President Obama and other Democrats, and instead advocated for more education alternatives.
“Right now we are encouraging people to go to a 4-year institution, that all it does increase their cost of tuition, but I think that we need to encourage people to… go to the trades as well, so I think that that is very important for our economy.”
McConnell also touched on the Syrian refugee crisis, and how it could have an economic impact on millennials. Last week, Alabama became the second state to sue the federal government for allowing refugee settlement. McConnell confirmed that he supports Governor Robert Bentley’s decision.
“I don’t think we have the capabilities of properly vetting them,” he said. “What I would say too, that affects millennials because that’s more people that are going to be coming in and working at a lower wage, and it’s going to drive our labor rates down, which is going to… cost millennial jobs.”
Three other Republicans running against Shelby in the March 1 primary are former state senator Shadrack McGill, John Martin, and Marcus Bowman.
