Local right-wing activist Joey Gibson is eyeing a spot in the U.S. Senate following an announcement at an event late last week.
Gibson announced his decision at the Red Cross Building at the Fort Vancouver National Site Feb. 25 that he is vying for Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell’s seat in this year’s election. Gibson is the founder of Patriot Prayer, a local activist group he started in 2016 and has been featured on the national political rally scene since nearly its inception.
In his announcement speech Gibson said he planned on focusing on getting to the “root cause” of problems, using the analogy of automotive work as how to fix the system. He said so often lawmakers are interested in more laws, adding superficial improvements while not fixing the engine, the heart of the problem.
One of Gibson’s main focuses was a push for term limits to get rid of the “Nancy Pelosis, the Maxine Waters the Maria Cantwells, all of them who have been a cancer to this system,” Gibson said. Specifically for Cantwell he said that years in Congress had made her tired.
“D.C. has sucked the life out of her, and I don’t believe she has what it takes to motivate the American people, to bring us together,” Gibson said.
Gibson also touched on simplifying the tax code in order for the benefits of the tax system not to go to big corporations who can find the loopholes. His suggestion was abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and go to a “fair tax” system, going strictly by sales tax, something he said could stop corporate loopholes while also getting black markets to pay.
“No matter who you are if you buy products of the United States of America, you are paying your taxes, you are paying your fair share,” Gibson said.
Gibson also took issue with the U.S. healthcare system, commenting that “the whole thing is a fraud.”
“We have a corrupt Big Pharma that has teamed up with the FDA,” he said, with one of his policy points being to make it illegal for doctors to get paid for prescribing certain drugs over others. He also pushed for a full audit of the FDA,
“That’s part of freedom, to be healthy and to be able to go and to see a doctor without these crazy rising costs and the fact that they (Big Pharma) have a monopoly on the entire system,” Gibson said.
Gibson said he would also push for allowing veterans to see private doctors on the government’s dime if they cannot receive care through the VA.
Regarding another topical policy issue, gun control, Gibson said he would put freedom first.
“We have to put freedom before every single policy question, we have to. That has to be the foundation. That has to be the principle,” Gibson said. He gave the example of gun ownership as a freedom that currently younger individuals are pushing against, something he said was a right that those individuals didn’t realize they had.
Gibson said he would push for the right of citizens to own rifles, citing the need for the American people to defend themselves in the possibility of a foreign invasion.
Though running as a Republican, Gibson called out to moderate Democrats who were disenchanted with the perceived leftward shift of their party, saying that in him they could find a voice celebrating Americans’ rights.
“I’m here to give you a home. Not for the big banks, not for the big business, not for big pharma, not for the corrupt DNC, but for the American people,” Gibson said.
Currently Gibson is the only Republican slated to run against Cantwell in this year’s election.