Kentucky.

State lawmakers braved the wintry weather last week to start the 30 day legislative session, formalizing leadership and committee assignments and welcoming new members.

22 new members were sworn into the Kentucky General Assembly on Tuesday, including 16 in the House and six in the Senate.

Tonight, we introduce you to a Navy SEAL combat veteran gun store owner who frequently dons a cowboy hat.

State Senator Erin Reid has been working to get to Frankfort for three years after a redistricting shuffle and a tight primary last May.

The Republican was hired by voters in the seventh state Senate district.

That encompasses Anderson Henry, part of Jefferson and Shelby Counties.

My interview with State Senator Aaron Reid as we continue our profiles of the legislature' Talk to us about your background, your your professional background, your civic engagement and why that led you to pursue a seat in the Kentucky State Senate.

How far you want to go back?

You can start off, you know, in the early days.

I started off my life of service, if you will, in the Cub Scouts.

You know, start off Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts.

I became an Eagle Scout.

And one thing my dad always told me, he was an Eagle Scout and a former Marine as well as a state trooper.

He retired after 28 years as a trooper here in Frankfort.

But he always told me he was a good influence on me.

He always said America is free because good men serve.

So I always knew I was going to join the military as soon as I discovered what the Navy SEALs were all about.

I was all in and I didn't look back to be a Navy SEAL.

You have to make it your goal in life.

You're only going life to make it through that training.

And I try to tell you guys that.

And, you know, sometimes they listen, sometimes, again, as you know, the attrition rate is pretty high in the SEAL teams and it's tough.

So if you don't go into this endeavor, that adventure is that quest with everything you got, you're going to have a hard time.

It was the toughest thing I've ever had to do in my life.

Absolutely.

And, you know, here we are today.

You know, I did 22 and a half years in the Navy.

Over half of that was was active duty time.

And then I switched into the reserves later in my career in 2020 and 2021, roughly, I you know, I'd come home and I was working my way out of the reserves and, you know, we were seeing the country go in an odd direction.

And, you know, I was I was leaving the service from one one branch and trying to figure out what the next chapter was going to be in life.

And oddly enough, I had a lot of people calling me.

You needed you need to run for this position.

You need to do this and you do that.

And I'm listening.

And sometimes that's how God's, you know, tells you what to do.

He sends people to tell you, I started my my campaign to run for Senate.

And then, you know, it was kind of a long haul because in 20 January of 22, they the General Assembly voted to to change up the map a little bit.

We got redistricted.

So my district went from District 20 to District seven.

And with that, basically my election went away because it was an odd number instead of an even number.

So they kicked it down the road two years and I just went into marathon mode at that point and was basically soft campaigning and, you know, spreading the word on faith, family and freedom, which is what I what I ran on.

And because you've been committed for a long time, what is it that you really want to fight for while you're here?

There's so many there's so many things.

I was blessed enough when I rolled in here to, you know, I was given some pretty good committee assignments, the biggest being the Veterans Military Affairs Public Protection V map.

I was I was given the vice chairmanship my freshman year here.

So I'm really looking forward to getting into that a lot.

Also, education.

I'm on the Education Committee, Judiciary Committee and Agriculture Committee.

I couldn't come up here without being the AG came all my folks back home with, you know.

So I got to take care of the farmers back home.

Absolutely.

I'm really big on the, you know, getting the income tax down to 3.5 in lower than that.

Actually, 3.5 is what we're gonna do this year.

And then getting it down to zero would be pretty awesome for our economy.

I'm working with my other fellow senators, my colleagues on developing a plan where we can help bring some fitness options to our schools right now there's not a whole lot in recess is kind of it seems to be getting phased out.

Also, one of the things that's important to me in education is is trade schools.

My long term goal is when I leave here, I'd like to have some kind of stamp on that that I, you know, improve that situation where kids can graduate high school and have more options, be certified to go into the workforce.

What do you think about like the reverence of this place?

Right.

I mean, the institution, it's not just a set of buildings and a complex, but it is it is more than that, right?

It is about.

It's like holy ground.

Here.

It is like sacred ground, Right?

Is that how you view it?

I do.

When you walk into the Senate chamber or the House chamber, is it really you feel the the history coming down on you when you walk into the Capitol period and look up at the paintings of our forefathers and those who who made who came to Kentucky and settled here and made it what it is today.

It's it's really inspiring.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You intimidated by this atmosphere at all?

You know, a little bit.

You know, mostly respect it, you know, I respect it.

I not.

I guess intimidation wouldn't be the case because I've been intimidated by other things that are like, you know, come here.

They can't kill me.

Right?

It's they can't take my birthday away.

And, you know, you hear these these these phrases, you know, are you going to be loved in Frankfurt and hated at home or loved at home and hated in Frankfurt?

In.

There's got to be a middle ground on that, too, where, you know, you can work with your folks here, your colleagues, and do the best possible for your for we the people back home.