A new member of the state Senate is driven to serve in the Kentucky General Assembly by business, workforce development and education needs in the state.

Matt Nunn was elected to serve the 17th Senate District after Damien Thayer, who'd served for more than 20 years, retired.

He talked with me recently about his motivation to seek elected office and what he hopes to accomplish and the Sit down interview.

That's part of our series on the Kentucky General Assembly's freshman class of 2025.

I ran for state Senate because I'm raising kids in that district and running a small business there.

And very importantly, that we had someone with conservative values, but also an ability to get things done.

And I think my experience in the private sector and running a small business gives me that ability and experience to get things done for the people.

Something district.

Yeah.

Tell us about your small business.

So my wife and I own an Irish pub on Main Street in Georgetown.

We just celebrated an eight year anniversary back in August, which means we've been through some things, including COVID, came out of the start of COVID and so, again, this is experiences of opening a small business, making payroll every two weeks has taught me a lot about what those people go through, and I understand what that is.

And so I understand how important that is to our economy overall.

And so, again, I think that's to help me in this role.

And as you just mentioned, of course, eight years, you did survive a few of those during the COVID pandemic.

Talk about those struggles and how that even informed you perhaps to have a political involvement.

Yeah, we had absolutely did.

And so we had to be very creative doing that time to, you know, work within the rules that we were given to be able to operate and still turn a profit.

So it's it's always you're always seeking out to make a profit small business owner.

So you have anything restricting that, making it harder becomes very difficult.

So to be very creative there in that time.

And then, you know, I gained some, I guess you say, notoriety during that time because the business that we have, we did not start our own food at the time.

We were using food trucks that used to be very popular, as you recall.

And so after I think 65 days, restaurants were going to be allowed to reopen, but the governor was not going to allow bars what we classify as a bar to reopen.

And so, you know, I just didn't understand how a plate of food sit in front of me or anybody else change the risk of COVID.

So I wrote a very respectful letter to the governor, and we put it on Facebook and got a few hundred likes and shares and comments.

And so I was quite he came out, interviewed me, and I explained that same thing, and that that reporter asked the governor his daily press briefing the next day about the situation.

He said, well, if they'll spread out and get a little bit of food, they can reopen.

And so we bought a hotdog roller and we revisions.

And so again, had to be creative to figure out how to work within the confines.

And then after being out for a few days, we were contacted by the state ABC and they said, Hey, make sure you're actually selling hot dogs that are not just there for show.

How did that experience kind of shape or maybe even reshape what you think government should be or should not be doing?

You know, I've told people that there's five things that have really shaped my my view of government in the role of government, and that's one of them.

First of all, opening the small business, just seeing all the things we had to go through to pursue the American dream, to employ people.

Very challenging.

And sometimes I thought unnecessarily challenging.

But then during COVID, even more so, you know, I understand that, you know, people made decisions based upon the information they had at the time.

You know, we didn't always agree on what those decisions should be.

But again, just seeing how what I felt was government overreach was able to impact my small business and nearly bankrupted it was very challenging for me to accept.

Tell us about your military career.

21 years in Kentucky, Army National Guard.

I enlisted right out of high school.

I was a infantrymen instructor.

Which Ocean State became a commissioned officer.

It's offshore.

Offshore, offshore base, of course, in Fort Benning, Georgia.

My wife and I spent our first four marriage in force, four months of marriage in Fort Benning.

And I did that for a number of years.

And then into my career as a military intelligence officer working right here in Frankfurt on the adjutant general staff and in the intelligence department of his staff.

So I just want to make this a great place to raise a family or help it continue to be a great place to raise your time.

I think it already is, particularly the district that I'm representing.

But, you know, so I'm raising kids here.

Hopefully, I have grandkids running around that district soon.

So I'm here just to make sure that remains a great place to raise a family, pursue the American dream, as I have.

You know, I've lived the American dream the way I grew up.

I never would have dreamed that I'd be sitting here talking to you.

And so just my background and being able to see how, you know, decisions and God's providence have led me to this place, I want to make sure that everyon The business owner and military veteran has been assigned to serve on the Senate licensing and occupations, agriculture and veterans, military affairs and public protection committees.