SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, Congressman Billy Long announced his entrance into the race for Missouri’s open U.S. Senate seat.

“We need to get the Senate back,” said Long. “You aren’t going to do anything until you get the Senate back and I’m the guy who can win that Senate seat in Missouri.”

Long announced his candidacy after meeting with former President Donald Trump in New York earlier Tuesday. He also has former Kellyanne Conway, a former White House counselor who was also Trump’s 2016 campaign manager, on his team. Conway will be joining Long at a rally in Springfield next week.

“At a 50-50 split, the US Senate is increasingly a place where our freedom, opportunity, and security hang in the balance,” Kellyanne Conway noted. “Who serves in the Senate matters. Kamala Harris has not done much as Vice President, but she has broken 8 ties in the Senate. The Democrats now control what happens to you. Congressman Billy Long is a fighter who unequivocally supports the America First agenda. He was one of the longest and the strongest supporters of President Donald J. Trump. That’s because Billy saw then what the media still refuse to see: American Exceptionalism, not American Socialism, is our destiny.”

Long spent 31 years as an auctioneer and real estate broker before making the leap to politics in 2010, winning the race for Missouri’s 7th Congressional seat. Long says he is tired of how Washington is mismanaged and will bring a commonsense approach to the United States Senate.