People question me all the time about my experience. They question my experience in politics, and the first thing I always tell them is yes, I have no experience raising taxes over and over. I have no experience increasing the debt in a state.
Jon Runyan
I take ownership of every mistake I've ever made.
People have challenged me all my life, told me I wasn't fast enough, wasn't smart enough, but you know what? No one's ever outworked me. My definition of tired and most people's definition of tired are two totally different things.
I've been blessed with a lot of great things in my life, and one of them was work ethic. And with work ethic, you can make anything happen.
It's been in the back of my head for five or six years, but more on the local level to get involved and try to create a better environment for my children and grandchildren.
The biggest change we have to tackle that's out there is that we're digging the hole deeper and deeper and spending is totally out of control. And that's something that, quite frankly, is affecting future generations. You're giving a lot of debt to them and you can't keep doing it. It's not helping anybody.
After a great deal of thought and discussions with my family, I have decided not to seek re-election in 2014. Politics shouldn't be a career, and I never intended to make it one.
South Jersey is home to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, one of the finest military installations in the world, and it was my honor to represent the base and all of those who serve there.
When you look at my campaign, I don't go around sugarcoating things.
I tell you how I feel and how we're going to solve it. That's my unique personality and that's how I carry myself. It is different from most people, but when something comes out of your mouth, people tend to listen more.
When I decided to run for Congress, I saw it as an opportunity to serve the South Jersey community that had become my home after signing to play for the Philadelphia Eagles. I didn't choose public service out of political ambition or a desire for power, and never once thought of making a career of it.
Believe it or not, there are members of Congress who actually want to govern and get stuff done. Unfortunately, there are others whose agendas and strategies serve to advance their own interests and expand their donor base.
I always step back and look at - you know, look at my background in playing team sports my whole life and taking that approach into Congress. It's not about me going, and you know, feeding my ego going to Congress.
A lot of people are in politics to make friends, too, instead of making positive change. They're worried about getting re-elected.
