While six Democrats are seeking the nomination in the Sixth Congressional District, only two are competing in the Republican primary. Incumbent Andy Barr is seeking a fourth term while opponent Chuck Eddy is making his first run.
Chuck Eddy says Donald Trump’s move from entertainment and real estate to the WhiteHouse got his attention. “I’ll be honest I watched “The Apprentice” and thought it was kind of funny, but then when he was in reality trying to do something, I was horrified,” said Eddy.
Eddy, drove a soft drink truck and has been a call center employee, and has lived in Lexington for 22 years. Eddy says he’s fighting for the soul of the Republican Party, or “doing Republican the old fashioned way.”
He calls himself socially liberal and fiscally conservative and, unlike many Republicans, supports universal
Eddy says the U.S. averages spending $9000 annually per capita on healthcare for each person, compared to about $3000 for some 35 other developed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He says most have universal healthcare. “I do not believe that we could cut our costs without radically screwing everything up from 9000 to 3000, but if we just cut that in half, would be saving one and a half trillion dollars, our country would, every year,” noted Eddy.
On immigration, Eddy says demonizing immigrants is wrong. He says a more robust guest worker policy is needed that would allow qualified people to work in America temporarily and return to their home country. “Building a wall per se is a waste of money in my opinion. Yes, we need to improve enforcement. We don’t improve enforcement by separating parents from their children,” said Eddy
Barr, a Lexington lawyer, supports both increased border security and legislation for merit-based immigration. “Stopping this crazy policy of prioritizing distant relatives over people who are the best and brightest, the hardest working people in the world, who deserve to come to our country and be contributing members of our economy,” said Barr.
Barr says the U.S. economy is booming because of tax cuts, deregulation, and a more competitive business market. And Barr credits Trump for playing a significant role in making that happen. And that, Barr says, will help keep Republicans in power and Trump in office. “If you do the job you were elected to do, if you make American stronger and more prosperous, then the American people will reward you for that. Look he’s got a lot more work to do. We’ve got a lot more work to do between now and November,” noted Barr.
There are efforts at every governmental level to curb the opioid epidemic. Barr says federal money is available for drug prevention, education, law enforcement, and treatment but there’s a need for long-term transitional housing.
Barr believes money should be allocated to support this approach. “And at the end of a year and a half, two year process, post treatment, we can turn recovering addicts into productive citizens, living, working with savings in long term non subsidized housing, free of government dependency,” said Barr.
Barr says he files or co-sponsors legislation each session calling for 12 year term limits for U.S. Representatives and Senators.
Eddy believes politics is crippled by what seems like a never-ending campaign. He would like to see limitations on the length of a campaign season. Eddy argues that’s why there are huge amounts of money being spent on campaigns.
With a well-funded campaign and the advantage of being the incumbent, Barr is a heavy favorite to win in tomorrow’s primary.
And come Wednesday the focus will shift to the two-party battle in the fall.
