Chris Kelley received 11 medals during his 27-years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves. Between his three deployments to the Middle East, he’s racked up 36,000 hours patrolling the streets of Minneapolis as a member of the city’s police department.
Now, he faces a new challenge: preventing Rep. Ilhan Omar from winning re-election in Minnesota’s 5th congressional district next year. (Fox News)
“September 11 was a terrible loss of life, not just for police officers and firefighters and other first responders, but 3,000 people and non-combatants died, and to be dismissive of that was an outrage. I could sit and complain or I could do something about it,” Kelley, who is campaigning as an Independent, told Fox News. “And I believe I can be a positive voice in standing up for people in our country, and for our first responders and the people every day on the frontlines.”
In his view, current representative Omar has devoted too much time to crafting her “celebrity” than on being of service to the community, which he insists he will serve honorably if elected.
“As former military, I am here to serve and not further my status. I want to do a good job for the people I represent and I don’t have a personal agenda,” noted Kelley, who deployed once during Operation Desert Storm and twice during Operation Iraqi Freedom as an intelligence analyst and also holds an master’s degree in Criminal Justice Leadership from Concordia University in St. Paul. “I’m passionate about service and I just want to be able to continue that.”
He isn’t totally a political rookie. Kelley campaigned for the Republican Senate endorsement in 2016 and, while unsuccessful, it gave the 49-year-old a taste for what Minnesotans wanted and needed.
The 5th is by far the most Democratic district in the state. Republicans have not won more than 40 percent of the vote here in more than forty years.