Lyon County native and lawyer Logan Forsythe announced his bid in an already crowded race for the seat that will soon be vacated by U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Forsythe, who previously worked as a Secret Service agent and now as a lawyer, joins state Rep. Pamela Stevenson in the Democratic primary. On the other side of the aisle, high-profile candidates U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, former Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Lexington businessman Nate Morris are enmeshed in a heated race for the Republican nomination.
Forsythe sat down with Kentucky Public Radio to talk about why he is running for office for the first time now, and how he would handle politics in Washington.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sylvia Goodman: My first question, what is making you jump in this race? From my understanding, this is your first time running for office, right?
Logan Forsythe: It is. First and foremost, I'm not a career politician. Even a year ago, if you would have told me that I'd be here talking to you, I'd be kind of shocked by that. I'm a former Secret Service agent, and I've defended our nation's leaders, both Republican and Democrat, from harm in Kentucky and across all of America. Billionaires and the career politicians that we've had in office for too long, they're making it harder for everyday people, everyday Kentuckians like the folks I grew up with, to get ahead and to get a better life. The budget bill that's just passed, it's taken away a lot of the support systems and the opportunities that I relied on growing up. I was on Medicaid and I was on food stamps growing up, and I only got to go to college because of other opportunities provided in part by government, such as grants, scholarships and student loans. So without all of these opportunities, I wouldn't be here talking to you today, and I am running right now to help protect those opportunities for the people that are going to come after me, because I don't believe in walking through a door and then shutting it after I get to the other side. All of the cuts, all of the changes, all of, essentially, the thwarting of allowing people to continue on these opportunities is happening at the federal level, and that's why I'm looking to go for this seat.
How do you expect your leadership style to be in the Senate? How do you plan on going in and working with Republican colleagues? Do you intend to go in as kind of like a fighter? What's your plan should you be elected to the seat?
I think my plan if I get elected is they're going to be the same as I have always worked, whether it was with the Secret Service, the Department of Defense or, right now, I'm a practicing attorney, and I protect workers’ rights throughout Kentucky. And in doing that, I have to work with other counsel who are representing the interest of an employer, an insurance company or someone else. So there's an adversarial system there. You don't have to just come in it with hate. You don't have to come in it just wanting to fight. You know, there are definitely cases and times when you feel motivated to fight and you want to be upset, but especially with this. And what I want to do, yeah, I don't think that we should necessarily try to see each other in that light. And I don't want people to look at me and see me as red- or blue-leaning either. I want to be seen as the person who is running on the issues that are affecting everybody, and who is trying their hardest to work with whoever they have to work with to resolve these issues and make Kentuckians lives better.
Do you think that immigration should be a big factor in this race? Do you have your own opinions on how the Trump administration has handled immigration in this country?
Yeah, immigration is definitely an issue that has to be addressed. I'm not a huge fan of how that's being addressed currently, present day. I believe that we can work together to secure our borders without cruelty, without bending our morality, and especially without denying people their constitutional rights to due process.
Democrats haven't had the easiest time, especially on the federal level, in Kentucky. So I'm curious, how do you hope to break through to people?
Well, first and foremost, I'm not going to focus on just small areas. I'm from rural Western Kentucky. I'm sitting here right now as I talk to you, because I'm working here. I want to make sure that everyone there sees me, that I am there speaking to people throughout the whole state, not just certain areas, to understand the needs and the desires of all areas of Kentucky and to be an advocate for those people going forward. I want to highlight that, yes, we do have certain issues, and yes, we can work together with any elected official to come to a resolution that only bolsters the values that we all share as Kentuckians.
State government and politics reporting is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
