My father passed away last night after a hard fought battle over the past 3 months with Melanoma.

Most people don’t know how tremendously difficult my first three months of Congress have been.

While I have endured the flaming arrows fired daily at me while I have been fighting against the left’s war on our freedoms in Congress, my soul was torn apart watching my Daddy suffer and slowly die with cancer.

We don’t win every battle we fight, but my amazing father won the war, and he taught me how to withstand the greatest enemy.

My Dad was the forgotten American man that President Trump worked so hard for.

My Dad grew up with very little, but with a faith in God and dreamed the Great American Dream.

He worked every job from riding a bike delivering newspapers, to factory work, to construction work, and all in between, while trying to go to school.

He was drafted at age 20 to go to war in Vietnam and served our country in the Navy. He lost friends there just like many did.

He met a girl after his service, when he went back to college, married my Mom, and had a little girl named Marjorie.

He couldn’t finish school, but proudly went to work to support his family.

With only a truck and a ladder, he tirelessly worked and eventually built a thriving construction company that put a roof over our heads, fed us, clothed us, and Dad provided our families every need.

My Dad had the strongest hands I’ve ever known.

They held me as a baby, carried me, swung me, threw me in the air, lifted me to ride on his shoulders..

They taught me to tie my shoes, ride a bike, throw, catch, and hit a ball, and fish..

They taught me how to drive a car, drive a boat, and sail a sailboat..

I watched his hands build amazing things with his tools..

Measure, snap a chalk line, cut, hammer all the nails in with one swing, climb the ladders, load the trucks..

I watched his hands write, calculate, and carefully bid projects on all the many blueprints..

They typed, wrote, and published books..

They created inventions and that even got nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize..

They took care of my mother and held her tight and loved her so..

But the greatest thing my father’s hands ever did was they taught me how to pray..

My Dad’s big strong hands put my tiny hands together when I was young and introduced me to God..

Last night, the Mighty Hands that formed and created my Dad’s hands, and the wonderful man that my father is, lifted him up and took him home to heaven.

Today we rejoice that his pain is gone and he has been set free!

Thank you all of you who support me.

Soon I will be back.

And this time, I’ll be all in because my heart is no longer broken now that my Daddy has been set free.