Dale Romans to Run for U.S. Senate in Kentucky

[Wandering Eyes]

Thoroughbred trainer Dale Romans will run for the United States Senate in Kentucky, according to a press release from his campaign Wednesday morning, calling himself an “independent Democrat.”

Romans will face Amy McGrath in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, May 19. The general election for the seat being vacated by longtime Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is scheduled to be held November 3. The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face U.S. Congressman Andy Barr.

The release reads:

“Independent Democrat and famed Kentucky horserace trainer Dale Romans today announced his campaign for U.S. Senate to stand up for working people across the state and fix the challenges facing our country like harmful tariffs and dangerous health care cuts – instead of waging exhausting partisan fights that get us nowhere and only divide the nation.”

Said Romans, “I've been in Kentucky my entire life. It's the greatest place in the world and the heart of America. We need a Senator who reflects our people: not polished insiders or party-line politicians running the same old partisan nonsense, but someone who has built a career the hard way and lived the struggles that Kentucky's working families face every day. To solve the challenges before us, we need a fix, not a fight. As an independent Democrat, I won't be beholden to the national party, and I won't be a puppet of the president like a freshman Republican Senator would be. I love Kentucky, and I know our state needs a Senator in Washington focused on our people.”

Romans is a Louisville native and a lifelong resident of Kentucky. He was born into a working-class family and raised by a single mother, along with his two brothers.

“Lynn was a proud union woman who wouldn't let Dale or any of her boys fall through the cracks,” reads the press release. “Dale was also inspired by his grandfather, himself a union man who loved FDR, and grew up learning the values that define Kentucky–hard work, loyalty, and independence–values that voters desperately want in Washington.”

Romans has won over 2,250 races, including wins in the Preakness with Shackleford in 2011 and the 2015 Travers Stakes with Keen Ice, defeating American Pharoah. He has had 12 Kentucky Derby starts, and was appointed to the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear.

He is president of the Kentucky HBPA, where, the press release says, “he has been a vocal advocate for Kentucky workers, championing fair treatment, protecting jobs, and defending the economic lifeblood of local communities tied to small business, agriculture and racing. As a small business owner himself running a stable with 50 employees, Dale knows what it takes to grow a company, and he's worked hard to protect workers and support the people who keep this essential industry running. Dale came from nothing, built a storied career from the ground up, and always remembers where his roots are. His vision for Kentucky in the U.S. Senate is built on the values and lessons of this remarkable lived experience.

“As a small business owner and president of the Kentucky HBPA, Dale knows how to lead, negotiate, and protect Kentucky jobs, especially in sectors that national politicians often ignore. Dale will protect Kentucky workers and businesses from harmful overregulation and destructive tariffs, like those hurting the state's vital bourbon industry. And he'll relieve the pain and pressure of the affordability crisis on working people by lowering costs, boosting wages, and creating more and better jobs.

“Dale also knows we must do much more to make health care affordable and accessible, especially for working and low-income people. This means reversing the painful health care cuts and hospital closures forced on Kentucky by the OBBBA. Dale wants to strengthen Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act so more people can get healthcare without destroying their household budgets. And Dale won't cave to Big Pharma but instead will finally, after all these years of politicians talking about it in Washington, pass legislation to lower prescription drug costs.”

Romans and partner Tammy Fox | Sarah Andrew

The announcement reveals that Romans was diagnosed as severely dyslexic, and that school was difficult for him. He graduated from Butler High School in Louisville, and said that education will be one of his focuses, adding that while he was characterized as L.D., “that doesn't mean learning disabled, it means learning differently.”

Romans has been sober for two years since quitting alcohol after undergoing a comprehensive rehab program in Bowling Green, and said he hoped to bring reform to addition recovery, and expand drug and alcohol awareness and resistance programs for young people.

In his announcement video, Romans says, “I've travelled around the world, but I also saw the plight of the immigrant workforce we needed back here. The ones that are here working, doing jobs that are necessary in this country. We need those people. We don't need a fight, we need a fix.”

The release makes it clear that immigration will also be a focus, reading, “For decades, Washington did nothing as the immigration system atrophied. Now it's woefully broken. We must secure the border, and those here illegally who commit crimes should be sent back. But Trump's radical ICE raids are creating fear and resentment in communities, scooping up innocent, law-abiding residents and sometimes even citizens, and hurting businesses and the economy. The aggressive tactics of masked men grabbing people off the street without warrants or legal explanation are un-American, don't keep us safe, and inflict real pain and disruption to the economy that raises costs, including for Kentucky's horse racing industry. Washington needs to stop kicking the can down the road just because it's hard, and Dale will work to pass real immigration reform in the U.S. Senate.”

Romans and his partner, Tammy Fox, a former jockey, live in Louisville where they have raised two children. They welcomed their first grandchild earlier this month.

For more information, visit DaleRomans.com.

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