Interview: Austin Petersen’s Case for U.S. Senate

“I don’t spend my weekends at $1,000 cocktail parties with powerful people. I spend my weekends with my family going shooting on our farm and doing things that everyday, ordinary Americans do.”

On January 19th, Missouri Senate candidate Austin Petersen joined Merion West’s Nate McNally to discuss the progress of his campaign, the evolution of his views on abortion, the current debate on surveillance, and his role as a political outsider.

When you last joined us at Merion West during the summer, you had announced your campaign to run for the Missouri Senate seat. How do you feel your campaign has fared since we last spoke?

Very well actually. I’ve never come under the assumption that I’d be the favorite of the establishment in this race, but we’ve gotten a lot of media. We’ve raised quite a bit of money, and we just listed on Fox News as one of the big power players in the race. We’ve still got plenty of times to get ourselves off the runway.

What makes you the best option for Missouri voters?

I think probably the biggest thing that was just revealed, as of yesterday, is that Claire McCaskill was the deciding vote to push forward FISA 702 [a section of the law that enables the government to collect data from companies regarding communication between foreign nationals and Americans].

What’s interesting about this is that Claire McCaskill kept the deciding in order to ensure there’d be no debate on this surveillance bill, which many people rightfully claim is an attack on our 4th amendment rights. So, comparing myself to the Democrat, I am much more in line with the constitutional principles I think Missouri should support.