Representative Todd Rokita held a meet and greet in downtown Warsaw on Saturday.
The U.S. Senate hopeful is one of six Republicans aiming to unseat incumbent Senator Joe Donnelly, a Democrat.
Rokita expressed concerns about Donnelly to the crowd of approximately 50 people at Mad Anthony’s on East Center Street.
“We’re surprised when he votes against our interests in D.C.,” he said. “No matter how hard he smiles, the voting record doesn’t match.”
Rokita says he is a Constitutional conservative who will use his Hoosier values if elected.
He tells News Now Warsaw that campaigning in Kosciusko County is important to him.
“Everyone thinks this is a little county, but I don’t think so, I think this is an economic powerhouse,” he explains. “I’m interested to hear from people like the Mayor..and other leaders here. I’m interested to rebuild and have the relationship I had when I was Secretary of State with them as a U.S. Senator. When I’m U.S. Senator, you’ll see too much of me.”
Attendees of the meet and greet had an opportunity to have their questions answered by Rokita and hear him speak on a variety of issues including immigration, enacting term limits for elected officials, and the passed tax overhaul plan.
Though many may see tax cuts under the new plan, Rokita acknowledges the medical device tax resuming could hurt the industry.
“You got to keep fighting for it, because it didn’t have enough votes to get out of the Senate for whatever reason… If Todd Rokita was in the Senate I’m sure that medical device tax would be permanently repealed,” he told News Now Warsaw. “But now we’re back to the drawing board, and I think we at least fight for the delay that we had, but continue fighting for the repeal itself.”
Though no local officials have made endorsements, in attendance at the event were Sheriff Rocky Goshert, Kosciusko GOP Chairman Mike Ragan, Mayor Joe Thallemer, and a few members of the Warsaw City Council.
