Updated Feb 3, 2012, 10:21 am
Jesse Kelly is running to fill the congressional seat left vacant by the resignation of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, he announced Friday.
"We're running again because we still can't get our fiscal house in order," he said. "We're running for office because we need more jobs in this state."
"We believe in conservative principles," he said, running down a checklist of economic issues, including taxes and jobs.
Kelly wants to limit government revenue by instituting a 10 percent flat income tax, he said. While he wouldn't specifically address the issue, he implied that he would like to eliminate payroll, corporate and capital gains taxes.
"There’s not a single tax out there that I don’t support lowering," he said.
The federal government should focus on defense, he said, and "scale back the spending in all these other unnecessary areas."
Kelly announced his candidacy on the Jon Justice talk radio program around 7:30 a.m., and again at a morning press conference at his North First Avenue headquarters.
Kelly said he will run in both the special election in CD8 and in the fall regular election in the newly drawn CD2, which overlaps most of the old district. He said he would run in CD2 regardless of the outcome of the special election.
Kelly has been managing construction projects in Texas for his father's company for the past year, he said.
Kelly, who was backed by the Tea Party, lost to Giffords by about 4,200 votes in 2010. The Giffords-Kelly race came down to the wire; the congresswoman edged the GOP candidate in a contest that took days to count.
"We won by six points, we just lost the early ballots," Kelly said Friday.
Kelly was a bit more conciliatory toward the other party than in his last campaign. "One party is not always right," he said, backing off his 2010 statement that he hoped there would be no Democrats in the House if he were elected.
He said he would engage with anyone, regardless of party, if they were working to create jobs and cut taxes.
Kelly faces state legislator Frank Antenori and Dave Sitton in the GOP primary in the special election cycle. The partisan primary will be April 17, and the general special election will be in June.
"We will not be campaigning on the other candidates," Kelly said. Saying he has "nothing but respect" for his Republican opponents, Kelly stated they would be "great choices" for the seat.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. Matt Heinz has announced his candidacy, and others are mulling a race.
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This is the guy who had to scrub his website when Giffords was shot.
“There’s not a single tax out there that I don’t support lowering,” he said.
You’ve got to wonder about the economic credentials of a guy who says he wants to cut EVERY tax, without offering any suggestions about how he’d fund government.
You’ve also got to wonder about the guy who refers to his candidacy in the Trumpian third person. Egomaniac? Or multiple personality disorder sufferer?
Why didn’t he do this last week? Probably for the same reason he does everything…he’s a douchebag.