Photo retrieved from http://www.tedyoho.com/
Eric Ciunta at Sunshine State News had an exclusive interview with the latest Palin endorsee, Ted Yoho, after his win in the Sunshine State.
North Central Florida’s new Republican congressional nominee is a self-styled “conservative Christian Republican with a libertarian slant” who plans to take a hatchet to thousands of pages of federal regulations, beginning with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
He’s avowedly antagonistic to the foreign policy orientation of the last several presidential administrations, including his own party’s “neoconservative wing,” wants to return America’s troops home from abroad, and is a staunch civil libertarian who calls for the repeal of the Patriot Act and the latest incarnation of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
In what is being hailed in many quarters as the biggest upset of Florida’s primary election season, and quite possibly one of the greatest congressional upsets in state history, large-animal veterinarian and political newcomer Ted Yoho scored a very narrow victory over 12-term congressman Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, in one of Tuesday’s most hotly contested races.
Yoho’s certainly done his homework. “[I’ve] read the Constitution over and over again. I’ve taken study courses on it through Hillsdale [College]. I’ve read the Federalist Papers. I’ve read [Michael Holler’s] ‘The Constitution Made Easy’. I’ve studied this document,” he insists.
Yesterday, Ciunta reported on Governor Palin’s endorsement of Yoho:
Republican nominee Ted Yoho, of Florida’s 3rd Congressional District, will announce later today a major endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Sunshine State News has obtained an advance copy of a press release soon to be issued from Yoho’s campaign.
Large-animal veterinarian Yoho made headlines last Tuesday after beating 24-year incumbent Cliff Stearns in a primary race many observers are calling one of the worst congressional upsets in state history.
In an exclusive interview with Sunshine State News Thursday, Yoho detailed his strict constitutional philosophy, fielded questions which had been submitted by readers, and candidly set forth why he set out to run against conservative stalwart Stearns.
The full text of Palin’s endorsement:
“Dr. Ted Yoho isn’t afraid of hard work. To put himself through college and veterinary school he worked nights in a vegetable packing house and summers in construction. After graduating, he started and grew his own successful business. Yes, President Obama, Ted built that himself.
“Tired of watching career politicians spend us into debt and tax us to death, Ted decided to run for Congress in Florida’s new 3rd Congressional District. No stranger to hard work, Ted took his conservative businessman’s perspective from town to town, county to county and voter to voter, asking them all the same thing: ‘Had enough?’ The answer was clear. Ted’s victory in last Tuesday’s primary sent the same message we are seeing all across the country: Yes, we have had enough. We’ve had enough of our elected officials going to Washington and forgetting about us. We’ve had enough of them mortgaging our children’s future to foreign debtors. We’ve had enough of Congress wasting our money on useless programs that enrich themselves or reward their cronies. We’ve had enough of high taxes. We’ve had enough of Obamacare’s threat of faceless government bureaucrats making life and death health care decisions for us. We’ve had enough of no job growth and government red tape that stifles our entrepreneurial spirit and any hope of long-term prosperity.
“Underdog candidates like Ted aren’t running because it’s easy, and they don’t plan on going to Washington to just ‘go along to get along.’ No, these underdogs are running to fight for sudden and relentless reform and they know the hard work it will require to make it happen. If you’ve had enough and are ready for some real reform that puts government back on our side, please join me in supporting Dr. Ted Yoho for Congress in FL-3. Let’s send this common-sense businessman to D.C. to fight for us. He won’t forget who sent him there.”
Yoho’s response to the endorsement:
“I’m honored that a strong conservative leader like Sarah Palin is backing my campaign and I cannot thank her enough for her endorsement. I admire Governor Palin for her relentless passion to challenge the status quo and to advance the conservative cause. I’m looking forward to working with Governor Palin and other conservatives as we look to take our country back, starting by repealing Obamacare. With support from conservatives we can begin to build coalitions of like-minded people who will work to return our country to the founding principles, core values and the Constitution. Common sense, a strong work ethic and a business mentality are what we need to accomplish these goals.”