Kentucky.

Tonight I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you for joining us for the first time in 14 years.

Kentucky's fourth Congressional District seat is open.

Current U.S.

Representative ThomasMassie lost his Republican primary race in May.

Now, four candidates are vying to succeed him.

Only one met our criteria to appear on tonight's program.

Ed Gallrein served three decades in and was a Navy Seal.

Kentucky's fourth Congressional District encompasses Northern Kentucky and covers all or part of 21 counties stretching from Oldham and Trimble County through Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties and further east to Greenup County.

As always, we want tohear from you.

You can send your questions and comments through X at Pub Affairs KET.

Send KY tonight at ket.org or use the web form at KET dot org slash KY.

Tonight, you can also call us at one 800 4947605.

Mr.

Gallrein, we welcome you to KET.

I believethis is your first time being with us tonight.

>> It is.

And please call me Ed.

Glad to be here.

And hello to the viewers.

Thank you for having me.

>> You're very welcome.

We look forward to learning more about you and your candidacy.

And we want to briefly revisit your primary victory, because a of eyes were on this race all over the country.

The most expensive U.S.

House race ever, tens of millions of dollars poured into that election.

And I'm sure you've heard critics say that outside influence is trying to buy this seat.

What's your response to that?

>> Conservatives from all over the United States donated to me in accordance with the process.

So there was an enormous amount of funds spent by that race.

And ultimately, I prevailed.

So as a simple and straightforwardas that.

So I was glad to have their support of fellowconservatives.

>> And you have a very decorated military career, numerous medals and badges and avery impressive military record.

We thank you for your service.

You are fairly new to politics, though.

You ran for thestate Senate in 2024, very narrowly lost that race by one percentage point.

At what point did you decide, hey, politics, I want to get into that.What inspired this decision to run for office?

>> Well, if I if I could, could correct the predicate on that.

I'm not really interested in politics.

I am frankly interested ingood governance, and that's why I'm here before you.

And I'm putting myself in front of the voters.

And I'm serious about that.

So I'm going to serve them in that manner.

And I want to thank you for the comments about the military service forward to talking about that some more.

If there's time during this particular interview.

But all that to say, I signed up to do this for the same reasons I entered the service in the 1980s, inspired by then President Reagan and motivated by him to serve what was going on aroundthe world.

And there was unrest about at home and abroad.

And I said, somebody's got to do something, and it just will be me and Laura.

I wasn't school.

I wasn't21 out of college.

I was 26 years old when I sought out the Navy Seal officer program, because my calculation is one farm boy from Kentucky.

If he was going to goto the service and make a difference, that's the way he wouldgo.

There were no books or movies.

There was not much heardabout them, but I was going to go do that.

It was about commitment and teamwork and service above self for the same reason service.

Then I joined for this.

This campaign.

Now to serve these folks.

When President Trump talked to meback on 17th October and 2025 and told me I needed to serve my district, the party and my nation again, then I went home, thought about it, prayed onit.

He asked me to dothat.

And then four days later, I declared on 21st October to the the race for the same reason to serve these folks.

They >> And you have shared that storyabout meeting with PresidentTrump in the Oval Office,havingthat conversation with him.

Some voters maybe have expressed to youon the campaign trail that they feared that you might side with the president, no matter what.

You are his handpicked candidate for this office.

Do you pledge blind loyalty to the president if elected?

>> Would I pledge Is the Constitution and the laws.

If youlook at the the oath of the of a congressperson and then also the officer oath that I took when I joined the military, as I said, at 26 years old, there's two things that I swear to the Constitution and the Lord full stop.

That's where my loyalty is.

And then furthermore, to thepeople I serve, I answer to them.

It's as straightforward as that.

Thank >> Are there any policy issues where you do disagreewith the president, and you'd like to see himgo in a different direction?

>> Well, with respect to what's goingon right now, I would be interested in having a conversation with him about the arrangement on the diesel fuel and what's going on with Russia.

But I have to say up front that recognizing I served as you and thank you forthat For three decades spanningthree decades and active duty.

that, I was a senior advisor for, let's say, sensitive activities and special operations, again, at the highest levels of classification.

I will tell you that many times not everything is relayed to the press or the public for good reason.

So I'd be interested in what might be going on behind the scenes, what we don't know.

But I would be asking hard questions because with respect to that, it's in our best interest to diminish Russia.

Russia is currently one of thefour horsemen of the Apocalypse that are advancingagainst us around the globe.

So I would be be asking questions, hard questions about that.

>> Do you are you referring to the president wanting to purchase diesel from Russia?

And do you support continued military aid from the U.S.

in Ukraine?

>> What oursupport is, things thatwould diminish Russia to include Ukraine.

Yes, to in order to hold theline on them,because Putin has made his designs clear, he wants to restorethe former Soviet empire.

And so with respect to that, we have to remember also how we got here with Ukraine.

The conditions were set for that by the previous administration that basically let Russia take Crimea by force, and precipitated a portrayal of weakness by our previous administration.

And then what we had was a comment by our previous president that said, well, if it's a small incursion, it might beokay.

All thatgot us to where we'reat.

So people need to remember how we got where we are.So with respect to that, I would be advocating things that diminished Russia.

It's in our bestinterest.

>> This is your expertise.

You served as acaptain in the United States Seal.

You were on numerous Seal teams.

What do you make of the war in Iran?

Do you approve of what some have called this a war of choice, and it has led to high gas prices, with the Strait of Hormuz being blocked and all ofthat.

So what do you thinkwe need to do there to get this conflict resolved?

>> Well, I want to start with sort of how we got here.

Iran has been at war with the United States of And then let's add, in 1983, they killed 241 Americans in the Beirut bombing.

Again, Iran was behind that at that juncture,as I understand it, it was the largest non-nuclear explosion ever.

And it basically entombed, buried those 241 great Americans.

And since then, they've been the largest exporter of terrorism.

They'vemade their designs clear.

Death to Israel, death to the U.S.

So presidents havealso said there is going to be no allowance for Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

What we have now, and they were bragging about it as they were right on the cusp, on the cusp of having a nuclear weapon.

The world would be a far, far, far more dangerous place.

The next morningwe woke up.

If theyhad that, what do I think of it?

What?

It's done.

The president's dealing with it.

He's acting within his authority and the executive branch.

And so, you know, back to a war.

It's hostilities.

And other presidents have conducted hostilities.

The last time the U.S.

declared war was actually 1942.

What I'm in favor of is peace.

Prosperity.

But through strength.

And again, they've laid their cards on the table, and we'veseen how aggressive they'vebeen.

There's one other thing to remember.

President Reagan had to deal with Iran during the 80s.

We had operations earnest.

Will that include U.S.

Navy Seals?

My teammates at escorted tankers to get them out of the Gulf, wherethey tried to closethe Straits of Hormuz, restrict the flow of oil from around the world, and control the market, and ultimately, President Reagan conducted what's called Operation Praying Mantis to hit him difference was they weren't on the cusp ofhaving a nuclear weapon.

>> How might your military service inform your work in Washington if you are elected in a couple of weeks?

>> Well, I'm going to start with my service on a family dairy farm.

You know, in Kentucky.

And it wasn't just a dairy farm.

It was the largest dairy farm in the state of Kentucky.

And if anybody knows anything about that, that is work, hard work.

And in a, in a, in a family farm like that, we call it also a But the similarity of what I did on thefamily farm, and my dadand I went on to row crop and corn, soybeans, cover crop, wheat and barley grew to be one of the largest family farms in the state.

The the, the elements ofthat and the, the elements of playing football.

Franklin.

Simpson Center College, Murray State and Seal team are all verysimilar and I'd offer.

They're very similar to my service that I'm offering the people of the fourth Congressional District.

Teamwork service to something bigger than myself.

Servant leadership.

Working with people.

Finding solutions.

Getting things done in any of those endeavors.

I didn't live in a worldwhere you could kick the can down the road or blame someone else.

And thank you for pointing out that, you know, I was a senior officer in the U.S.

Navy Seals.

With that came a very high obligation to care for others because my decisions had huge impacts include life and death.

>> Let's talk more about agriculture.

You are, been talking about, a fifth generation farmer, and we know AG isvery much woven intowho we are as Kentuckians.

And we've seen some policies that have been frustrating for some farmers.

The tariffs and how that's impacted the soybean market.

You mentioned diesel fuel.

Those prices are really high.

Beef imports.

I know some cattlemen have been unhappy with that.

So are you satisfied with the ag policy that you're seeing right now.

And is there anything that you want to see done differently?

>> Well, at a highlevel, we must remember that one of the most one of the most disadvantaged enterprises in in the U.S.

has been agriculture with respect to fairness and trade with our foreign partners, they have basically, you know, taken us to the cleaners for years and disadvantaged us.

An element of that includes the president to re level that.

Now, in my role in Congress is to is, of course, to legislate.

And, you know, advance policies that help us in the long run.

And so I'd be very interested in, you know, what the next steps are andbe asking those questions.

And one thing I want to add aboutthe policy, of agriculture, I would be very interested in advancing the movement of the USDA to the state of center of excellence for agriculture, from equine to row crop and to cattle production to other elements of agriculture.

I would be very interested in relocating the USDA here.

And we also have a wonderful constellation of colleges starting right here with the University of Kentucky, and they're whatwe call the deep end of the pool in agriculture, with education, science research, as you might be well aware, we're getting ready to get a vet school down at Murray State University to get a pitch in there for the mighty racer nation.

But we've got a great constellation of universities that would could contribute to the USDA right here.

>> Another concern among farmers and those that care about agriculture, prime farmland being used for data center construction.

Is that something that is concerning to you?

>> What would concern to me any undue influence to remove farmland by eminent domain or other, that now the local communities should make pros and cons benefit analysis about whatever enterprise, be it a data centers or other that comesthere.

But there should be no heavy handed use of eminent domain or some kind of things.

That would be for like unfair.

And I would offer that, you know, food security is an element of national security.

So that farmland is a precious resource that we cannot reproduce and we should guard it.

You know, it's the goose that laid the golden egg is what I would say is what the United Statesagriculture has done.

Imean, it's one of the most efficient producers of foodstuffs inthe world is U.S.

farmers.

>> Let's take a question from a viewer here.

This says many of your constituents rely on Social Security.

In 2032 or 2033, will be insufficient to fully pay people at current levels.

Do you have do you have ideas for addressing this issue?

>> My idea is to work with the.

All the folks in Congress to come up with a solution.

Now that is right around the corner, and so we should be devising thosesolutions.

Now here we are, over half, you know, toward the end of 2026.

And so we need to be regardless of what your party is, to come up with solutions to that.

Now.

>> People are concerned too, about the cost of health care.

We know howexpensive, and that can be a big burden on a lot of families.

How do you think the U.S.

should go about reducing some of those health care costs?

>> Well, in the same way that Reagan did many things that folks would remember is that, you know, he reduced burdensome regulation.

He reduced, you know, the high cost associated with just the government doing business and getting out of the way of folks.

And then we need to take a hard look at, you know, some of thesocial programs that are really have been turned into some elements of high degrees of fraud and taking advantage of them in ways thathurt the other programs.

And so we really need to scrutinize.

And much of that has been exposed recently in the media.

But to come full circle, we've got to roll our sleeves and cometo come together to get solutions for these things instead of continue to just kick the can down the road.

>> We know border security.

That's a big issue, especially for many Republican voters.

Do you approve of the work of Immigrationand Customs Enforcement?

Doyou think they've been effective in solving this issue under President Trump?

>> Well, what I would say is the first thing when president did is is close the border.

And we might remember the previous administration when the first things they did was open the border.

And then we saw the caravans that were incentivized to come in in terms of the illegal immigrants.

So the border security is an element ofnational security.

It's just one element of it.

And it's I don't think it's too much to ask that we justfollow the law with respect to immigration and apply it evenly as >> Do yousupport any form of amnesty for immigrants who are alreadyin the country illegally?

>> I do not support amnesty.

What I support is the current processes that are in place for legal immigration, and we need to encourage that.

We're a nation oflegal immigrants here.

>> Secretary ofDefense Pete Hegseth hassaid that the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was that deadly mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009, should be live streamed.

And President Trump has since walked back that idea.

Do you agree with the president or Secretary Hegseth on that?

>> I agree withthe president on that.

He should be held accountable.

I think it was he executed 13 as just as you said, in your living room.

That's how closehe was.

Those people were terrorized, injured30 more.

It was premeditated.

And to remind folks, you know, the the other party's administration called that workplace violence.

Oh, no, that was terrorism.

As he declared himself, he was radicalized.

No, I would agree with what the president said that should be carried out and not live streamed.

And the sentence shouldbe, you know, conducted upon him, just as it's been laid out >> Our current political climate.

Let's talk a little bit aboutthat.

It's very much perceived as this us versus them mentality.

And you've referred tothis election as a no fail mission.

Of course, we'vealways had differences between parties and ideologies and candidates, but do you have concerns that our country is becoming too divided?

>> Yes, I do.

My observation would be because, again, senior military officer, I was sent to the WarCollege and at the War College, we don't study how to drop bombs.

And, you know,shoot at people.

What we discusseda study is strategy and how to stay in the element of deterrence and the kind of things thatkeep things stable and bring on prosperity with security underpinning that, I'm very concerned that the divisions within the United States are largely being contributed to by adversaries that we have overseas.

In the same way they were pre World War Two.

So the contours are largely the same.

And so with respect to that, in the same way, President Reagan came in and got things done working with folks.

That'swhat I look todo, looking for solutions.

As I said, the commonality, whether itwas the farm football or Seal team, was you had to work with folks and come upwith solutions to get things done.

And the this district deserve that.

So does the folks at Kentucky, and so do the folks in the United States.

So I look forward to working with folks and getting solutions.

>> Out on the campaign trail in your district, have you noticed or observed any fracturing of Republican support?

Again, goingback to thevery contested primary, have you had to make strides to win over voters that voted for Congressman Massie in May?

>> No.

When Igo out and talk to the voters, I talk everyone.

There's no particular outreach to any particular element.

What I'm hearing is please go there and get things, listen to us and get things done for our district.

We have been neglected for years, and again, my role is to support them and be theirservant leader.So what I hear is again, the voices saying, we're glad you're going.

We're glad you're going to represent us.

You're one of us.

And resonating.

>> Going backto talk about the political climate and how it's very a little testy.

The the.

>> Contentious for sure.

>> Absolutely.

Thank you.

Many often accuse President Trump of using inflammatory language.

He's been holding his midterm rallies.

He's referred to the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan asa jihadist.

He referred to the Democratic Senate candidate here in Kentucky Charles Booker as quote, communist lunatic.

Do you think the president's language ever crosses the line, or is that par for the course now?

>> Well, I would say if we were going to have to talk about, you know,other folks in their language, we'd have to get the coffee on a dry erase board.

We'd be here a while, but I'll just tell you my mannerisms.

I'm from Kentucky, and so I come from a farm.

I come from a different culture.

The president.

And so the way that I articulate these things is going But but I will point out relative to that,that it is apparent that the Democratic Party cannot wear the jacket of democracy.

It's too tight for them.

They've laid their cards on the table with respect to what they mean to do.

So the presidentuses some language to animate people.

But I would just say that democracy is a tight fitting jacket for the Democrats to wear.

They've already gone on record they're goingtoget rid of the presidency.

They'regoing to stack theSupreme Court.

They're going to get rid of the Senate.

They're basicallygoing to trample on the Constitution.

They've laid their cards on the table.

>> When you say they, who are you referring to?

>> The Democrats?

>> Yes, there.

Is there a particular lawmaker or leader of the party that you that has said that or.

>> It will elements particularly of the Democrat socialists,the DSA.

And again, that has not been rejected by the Democrat leadership.

So with respect tothat, that's very concerning.

But I'll just say again and again, the mainstream Democrats themselves, you know, they wantto change the process.

It's not about winning a particular nuanced policy.

They want to change the process.

Also, often.

>> You.

>> Let's see.

So there are other candidates in There's a libertarian and there is a Democrat and the race as well.

And are you have you had conversations with the other candidates that are running for your seat?

Haveyou all had any sort of discourse?

>> No.

>> Do you plan to or.

>> Well, if I run across to him, I'll say hello because I'm from Kentucky and that's what we do.

>> What do youplan?

What does the next two weeks look like for you as you're Election Day?

Are you out in the streetsshaking hands?

We saw yourallying with President Trump on Saturday.

Were you satisfied with that crowd?

>> Oh, it was wonderful to talk to those folks.

You might have seen that.

I got there early and was out there talking to those folks in the crowd.

And then when we went inside, got to do more of the same to include the media, got to go back there and say hello to them.

And that was enjoyable.

And then talked to the president briefly behind the scenes.

So was all very, very enjoyable.

Then afterwards stayed and talked to a number of media outlets afterwards.

But what what farm works still got to be done?

As I told you, got off the bush hog today and got over here.

My hair was wet when I when I still got in here to get ready.

And then we were going to make a lot of stops out there talking to people, hearing what's on their mind, you know, so I can best represent them, you know, God willing, I am their elected congressman.

Come the morning of 4th November.

>> I'm sure you're hearing from the people that you're meeting with about affordability.

That's a that from voters on Saturday at the rally.

They are concerned about that.

And that's going to be a big issue, presumably in the midterms in a couple of weeks.

What is your pitch to voters for how you and the Republican Party can work to bring down the cost of groceries and housing and everyday essentials that Americans rely on?

>> Well, yes.

And that is a key, a key challenge that we have.

But let's remember, this administration has been in office for what, now, just over 20 months, thereabouts.

And what we inherited, remember the previous administration, let us not forget day one, when that administration took over Keystone Pipeline.

That was emblematic of how they would obstruct whatI would call American free enterprise, not just energy, but it was emblematic.

What else did they do?

They opened the borders and flooded us to have with the caravan showingup.

And what is it north of coming into our country?

You know, in a very, very short period of time that really put a lot of pressure on our social welfaresystems and a lot of fraud going on.

So I'm going to talk about affordability.

We cannot afford those open borders.

Again, we cannot afford a war on energy.

And American free enterprise.

We can't afford another Afghanistan that precipitated the invasion of Ukraine.

We can't that's not affordable.

In the in the meantime, the president is trying to reset peace and prosperity, you know, so we can have those more affordability.

And again, the high prices that we have right now at thegas pump are a function of Iran that was that close to having a nuclear weapon in there or bragging about that.

We need to not underestimate what the impact would have been had we woke up the next morning and Iran actually had that weapon.

>> So is that when voters ask you or if they if acritic or someone makesa comment, well, Republicans control the House, the Senate, the presidency, we have these issues with our economy.

Do you tell them they just need to have patience?

Is that your message to voters who want to blame your partyfor the current state ofthings?

>> No, I tell them I'm going up there to do something about it.

There's nobody more frugal than a dairy farmer.

Anybody in Kentucky will tell you that.

So.

And although not mentioned here, I've got a master's of science in financial management.

I know how to run the numbers.

The best thing I can do is ask good questions up there and get answers and solutions.

Working with other elected officials up there.

So that is my role and duty for these folks right there at their kitchen table, because when I see those businesses, thediverse economic ecosystem district, whetherit's out there in the rural areas or in the more metropolitan areas, and I see those businesses, I seethe American dream.

Those people deserve that.

So I owe them that to go upthere and fight for that.

>> Congressman Massie clashed with the president on a handful of high profile issues, broke with him on some in his party, on some votes, including the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein elected, will you continue?

Massie's calls for transparency.

In that case, how would you grade President Trump's handling of the Epstein files?

>> I don't have the details of that, but I will tell you, I will insist on transparency and accountability.

And again, that's been a theme in my life.

Again, whether it was from the farm, from the football team or to Seal team.

And I willcarry that forward.

Thefolks there deserve that, give it to them.

>> You spoke earlier about pledging yours.You were going to support the Constitution.

You did change, I believe, and correct me ifI'm wrong, did you change your party registration to independent in 2016 and then return to the Republican Party?

Do I have that correct?

>> Yeah.

So there was a period of time that I changed to an independent.

>> Do you want to say why you did that, and what made you return to the Republican Party?

>> I'm glad you asked that question.

I came home from military where I was an independent as a military officer, and I registered Republican.

When I got back to Kentucky, what I saw was then Congressman Massie was using the GOP committee in a manner that I was not in favor of, and I wasn't going to be part of that.

It wasn't fair to the rest of the Republicans.

So I declared independent.

When I watched how he continued to take advantage, you know, of hisyou know, GOP committees.

I came back in to stand against him.

And if you look at mydonation record, nothing changed.

I contributed to Republicans to include President Trump.

>> Well, wethank you, Mr.

Gallrein,so much for your time this evening and enjoyed this conversation and learning more aboutyou.

Thank you for watching our candidate conversations continue next Monday.

Have a