RINCON — U.S. Senate candidate Kelvin King is disgusted with the political status quo in America and wants to do something about it.

King discussed his plans during a campaign stop at Ms. Jean’s Restaurant on Aug. 24. The visit was part of a 30-day swing through Georgia’s 159 counties.

“I am a Republican and have been a Republican for more than 20 years,” King said. “I’m running with the theme of protecting and preserving the American dream because it is at risk right now.”

King, born in Macon and raised in Mableton, is a product of the American dream. He emerged from a single-parent home to own his own construction company in Atlanta.

“The dream is comprised of freedom, opportunity and American exceptionalism, which I believe can unite our party,” he said. “The three tenets of the dream can unite our party, our state and I think we can win this seat back.”

King learned core values that made him successful from his hardworking mother, who was just 15 when he was born. He credits them for help earn an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is saddened that they seem to have lost favor with a large number of Americans.

“I think it’s been a slow drip for decades,” King said. “I think Republicans have lost the culture war, meaning we don’t have great influence in our K-12 anymore, we don’t have great influence in our higher education anymore and we don’t have high influence in our news, entertainment, music and TV anymore.

“I think right now that it’s coming to a tipping point where we have to make a decision as citizens if we want to continue in that direction. I believe it is a destructive direction.”

King’s core values are belief in strong families, a strong military, pride in the country and self-reliance.

“That’s why we became the greatest and strongest country in the world,” King said.

King said he decided to enter the U.S. Senate race in January after Democrats Raphael Warnock Jon Ossoff upended incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, respectively, in tightly contest runoff elections.

“My wife Janelle (a member of Fox 5 Atlanta’s “The Georgia Gang) has been heavily involved in Republican politics for more than a decade and I have been for more than six years so we are not Johnny-come-latelies,” King said. “I was on the Perdue Steering Committee and she was on the Loeffler campaign so we saw the race from the inside.  When we lost those seats, we didn’t see anybody who was strong enough to win it back.

“Warnock is going to be well funded and will have the media on his side. He is symbolic in that he is Georgia’s first Black senator so we have to make sure we come up with our strongest candidate — and that is me.”

King is unfazed by University of Georgia football legend Hershel Walker entering the GOP primary.

“This is not a football game,” King said.

King’s platform includes strengthening the state’s economy. He is a proponent of lower taxes.

“I understand Georgia’s urban and rural communities,” he said.

Prioritizing national security and protecting Constitutional rights are also vital to King, a former Air Force procurement officer.

During his Rincon visit, the situation regarding the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was deteriorating rapidly.

“I am very disappointed in our administration,” King said. “I’m not going to put that frustration on our troops or even our military leaders because our top brass are led by civilians — our commander in chief — who give directions. That’s who I put the onus on, the fault on and the disappointment on.

“(President Joe Biden) has put American lives at risk today and set up risk for the future because they are emboldening the Taliban. Now other terrorist organizations are seeing our weakness, which also encourages them to do terrorist acts as well.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, James Nestor and Latham Sadler are other Republicans looking to unseat Warnock.