“The biggest thing lacking from this town is moral courage,” said Rep. Crane in a new interview with The Washington Times.
Mica Soellner writes about her recent sit-down with Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona’s Second Congressional District to talk about his first month in Congress and his priorities moving forward.
KEY EXCERPTS:
Staying focused on draining the Swamp and working for AZ-02:
- “’There’s a lot of smart people here, but sometimes I think these smart people come here and forget who they actually work for. They don’t work for Republican leadership. They don’t work for this town.’”
- “’I know that the swamp and the establishment are pretty institutional,’ Mr. Crane said. ‘It spits out guys like me left and right who want to come here and change it or it converts us and influences us and then sucks us in. I knew it would be really hard to get anything done here, but I would argue that I’ve already been a part of getting stuff done.’”
Wasn’t sent to Congress to make friends:
- “That said, Mr. Crane said he doesn’t care to be popular in his conference, even if that means he’ll be an outcast at times.”
- “’I don’t expect to be buddy-buddy or best friends with Speaker McCarthy or really anybody in leadership. That’s not why I’m here,’ Mr. Crane said. ‘I’m here to represent the people that sent me here and their interests and if that means that Speaker McCarthy happens to be happy with where I’m at in representing them on a certain day then that’s cool, and if it’s not that’s OK too because I didn’t come up here to make friends.’”
Priorities for the 118th Congress:
- “The congressman said border security is one of his top issues, as well as bringing forward a conservative agenda that fights ‘woke’ culture and the decline of traditional values.”
- “’It’s extremely disturbing and I’m not afraid to talk about it,’ Mr. Crane said about America’s culture wars. ‘This country has Judeo-Christian roots and that’s one of the reasons this country has been so successful, and a lot of what I see in our culture is extremely alarming and I don’t think it’s a coincidence or accident.’”
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