Former NFL player and 101st Airborne Army veteran Jake Bequette announced Monday that he is running for the United States Senate in Arkansas, challenging Sen. John Boozman in the 2022 Republican primary.
The 32-year-old former Razorbacks player, New England Patriots defensive end and veteran launched his campaign with a video featuring his football and military careers. After playing for the Patriots from 2012-2013, Bequette joined the Army in 2015 and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, deploying to Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division.
“When you take the field between the lines here, there’s no politics. There’s no politically correct way to sack a quarterback. It’s just cold, hard truth for everyone to see. Either your side wins or the other one does,” Bequette says in the ad.
“I’m no squish career politician,” the veteran and athlete continues. “I’m a former all FCC Razorback, a defensive end who sacked Tim Tebow, a Patriot who played with Tom Brady and won a Superbowl, and an Army veteran who left the NFL and volunteered for the 101st Airborne in Iraq.”
Bequette slammed his opponent, Sen. Boozman, as a career politician who has been in Washington for over 20 years, The Associated Press reported. “He’s going on his third decade in Washington, in the swamp. I just think it’s time for a change, it’s time for someone new,” he said.
“What’s happening in Washington these days is a disgrace. Democrats have been taken over by radical socialists, and too many Republicans just go along to get along,” Bequette says in the ad as images of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appear on screen.
Bequette goes on to refer to himself as a “God-fearing, Christian Conservative who is 100 percent pro-life and pro-police.” He also said he wouldn’t apologize for standing against illegal immigration, and is “sick and tired of the media lying, China getting away with murder, and politicians who only stand up for President Trump when they stand to benefit.”
“The left is going to spend every dollar they can print to remake this country,” he says. “Some will say that a young football-playing Army veteran isn’t qualified to stop them. Or maybe they’ll say it’s not my turn. But here’s what I say: Just see if you can block me.”
First elected to the Senate in 2010, Boozman faces multiple challengers next year, including Jan Morgan, a Hot Springs gun range owner.
