Former NFL player Jake Bequette launches bid for Senate seat in Arkansas

Former New England Patriots defensive lineman Jake Bequette on Monday announced he’s challenging Arkansas senator John Boozman in next year’s Republican primary.

Bequette, a US Army veteran who played collegiately for the Arkansas Razorbacks, launched his bid with a online video touting his football and military background, followed by an interview on Fox & Friends, Fox News’s flagship breakfast show.

“What’s happening in Washington these days is a disgrace. Democrats have been taken over by radical socialists, and too many Republicans just go along to get along,” Bequette says in the ad as images of house speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez flash across the screen.

“I’m a God-fearing Christian conservative who is 100% pro-life, and pro-police, and I will never apologize for being against illegal immigration. Like you, I’m sick and tired of the media lying, China getting away with murder, and politicians who only stand up for President Trump when they stand to benefit.”

Boozman, who was first elected to the seat in 2010 and was reelected in 2016, faces a crowded primary next year. Other challengers include Jan Morgan, a Hot Springs gun range owner who unsuccessfully ran against govenror Asa Hutchinson in the 2014 GOP primary.

The two-term GOP senator, also a former Razorback, won the endorsement of Trump this year. He reported in April having more than $1.1m in the bank for his reelection bid.

Bequette, 32, was a 2012 third-round pick by the Patriots and played in eight games during his first two seasons with New England. He spent 2014 on the practice squad and was cut in 2015 after an attempted transition to tight end. After retiring from the NFL, he joined the US Army and served in Iraq.