Jason Kander Quotes

If an election doesn't go your way, you don't get to call a do-over. Part of respecting our democracy is respecting the will of the voters.

- Jason Kander

To improve the standard of living for working folks, we have to raise the minimum wage and empower workers to fight for their interests in an economic and political system that's stacked against them.

- Jason Kander

The secret to adulthood is that 99% of the time, you actually know the right thing to do. Adults make it hard when they are deciding whether to do the right thing.

- Jason Kander

We should be doing everything we can to make it as convenient as possible for eligible Americans to cast a ballot. People fought and died for the right to vote.

- Jason Kander

The military is a group of people that come together from different perspectives and backgrounds and places and get a job done because they have a mission.

- Jason Kander

Everything I do in my political life is colored by my military service. It was the defining moment in my life and helped me develop the leadership skills that I still utilize.

- Jason Kander

If I had the opportunity to give President Trump any advice, and I had to boil it down to one thing, I suppose it would be that nobody ever got better at any job by blaming everybody else whenever anything goes wrong.

- Jason Kander

To truly care about this country is to demonstrate that you care about her politics the same when you're winning as when you're losing.

- Jason Kander

With limited shifts, low wages, and scarce benefits, it feels almost impossible for many Americans to get their slice of the pie.

- Jason Kander

We have to be willing to engage ISIS militarily, economically, and even on the Internet without delay. For instance, I think we waited too long to engage al-Qaida and the Taliban in Pakistan. And we should not make a similar mistake with ISIS elements throughout the world.

- Jason Kander

I'm that dude from the ad about background checks where I put a rifle together blindfolded.

- Jason Kander

Voter ID laws are the most potent form of voter suppression legislation.

- Jason Kander

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been an adviser to Trump, although he still very publicly couldn't land a job in the president's Cabinet, despite providing that counsel. And Kobach has a long history of making up facts to help him pass unfair voter suppression laws and push extreme anti-immigrant proposals.

- Jason Kander

Voter suppression anywhere hurts our democracy everywhere.

- Jason Kander

I believe there should be political consequences for politicians who commit voter suppression.

- Jason Kander

Since winning the election, Donald Trump has jump-started voter suppression efforts at the federal and state levels.

- Jason Kander

Let America Vote will make the case for voting rights by exposing the real motivations of those who favor voter suppression laws.

- Jason Kander

Voter suppression is at the very core of the Trump re-election strategy.

- Jason Kander

I thought of myself as a soldier who was going to law school.

- Jason Kander

As the state's chief elections officer, it is my job to make sure that only eligible voters vote, but also that every eligible voter has the opportunity to vote.

- Jason Kander

There are states with photo ID requirements that don't disenfranchise eligible voters.

- Jason Kander

In the state legislature, I supported Second Amendment rights.

- Jason Kander

The men and women of the American military have the courage to follow orders. They deserve a commander-in-chief with the courage to give them.

- Jason Kander

Americans are struck by lightning with greater frequency than they commit voter impersonation fraud, and that's the only kind of fraud that photo ID requirements could have any hope of preventing.

- Jason Kander

To me, leadership has always been about doing what's right. Because when you've had to write your blood type on your boots, you aren't afraid to make the right calls.

- Jason Kander

Americans want to be represented by the best candidate, not the one with the richest friends.

- Jason Kander

When one donor can account for more than 70 percent of a candidate's money, there's obviously something wrong with the system.

- Jason Kander

Whether it's intentional or not, Trump regularly makes news for unprecedented and nonpresidential behavior.

- Jason Kander

Because President Obama had an overall strategy, military and civilian leaders under his command could make reactive decisions that advanced the president's goals. In the military, we call that commander's intent: When there's a decision to be made and you don't have exact guidance at that moment, you at least know overall what your boss wants.

- Jason Kander

You can protect the integrity of elections without stopping anyone from voting.

- Jason Kander

I signed up for military service in the months following 9/11, and later, as a military intelligence officer, I felt called, like so many others, to volunteer for deployment and service in Afghanistan.

- Jason Kander

We were at a kibbutz, and we were at a Shabbat service, and I opened up the prayer book, and on the first page, it said that the prayer book was in thanks to the sponsorship of this family in a temple in Kansas City. For me, it was a moment when I really kind of connected in a real serious way with my personal identity as a Jew.

- Jason Kander

As Democrats, when we try to determine who or what allowed Donald Trump to become president, we should look in the mirror.

- Jason Kander

I got 220,000 votes from people who also voted for Donald Trump. I did not do that by pretending to be a conservative Democrat.

- Jason Kander

If we all work together, then we can save the American Dream from the nightmare that is Donald Trump.

- Jason Kander

Curtailing voting rights by dishonestly inventing widespread fraud has been a major part of the Republican Party's political strategy for a while.

- Jason Kander

A lot of millennials really want a company that signs their paycheck, or whoever it is that signs their paycheck, to be an entity that reflects to them in a way that is consistent with their personal idea of who they are.

- Jason Kander

The option to recall elected officials is an important one. Our representatives should always be mindful that they answer to their constituents, and if they act in malfeasance, their job may be on the line. But using the recall as a way to reverse the results of an election, or to hold a snap election, is simply undemocratic.

- Jason Kander

I think that one of the things that Democrats, in particular, need to recognize is that the way we have sometimes thought about issues as just affecting a particular group of people is not necessarily right.

- Jason Kander

In order to change Washington, we're going to have to change the people that we send there.

- Jason Kander

Voting in our country has never been easy, and unfortunately, it has never been guaranteed for everyone. But through the work of brave civil rights leaders, some of whom died for the cause, by the early 2000s we were at a point where most, but still not all, people who wanted to vote could do so.

- Jason Kander

I've stood in rooms in urban, rural, and suburban parts of my state and asked a room of middle class voters to raise their hands if the college debt of someone in their family is affecting their financial situation. Without exception, at least three quarters of the room will raise their hand.

- Jason Kander

I realize there are a lot of folks in my political party who disagree with me on this, but I think the Patriot Act is an important law enforcement tool, and it makes our country safer.

- Jason Kander

When Democrats concede the idea that some voters are not our voters, we shouldn't be surprised when those voters agree.

- Jason Kander

Voters are smart. They know the difference between a Democratic Party that wants their vote and a Democratic Party that believes in making their life better. They'll forgive you for pushing a policy they don't like as long as they believe you're doing it because you genuinely believe it's what's best for the country.

- Jason Kander

I believe that if you make it harder to vote, then we should make it harder for you to get reelected.

- Jason Kander

I'll be working every day to help elect voting rights champions in Missouri and around the country.

- Jason Kander

Senator Blunt genuinely sees everything through the lens of partisan politics.

- Jason Kander

This country is a place that you've got to stay invested in.

- Jason Kander

Democrats fell in love with the idea that winning elections was a matter of talking to voters about the one issue we think impacts them, instead of our plan to move the country forward as a whole.

- Jason Kander

A lot of states that pass voter ID laws have little to no evidence of in-person voter impersonation fraud, which is the only kind of fraud that voter ID laws could guard against.

- Jason Kander

I obviously did not volunteer to go to Afghanistan solely to protect the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans.

- Jason Kander

We need Congress to do more than just engage in partisan games.

- Jason Kander

Campaigning ain't tough.

- Jason Kander

Ground troops... have to be a last resort. I think they should always be a last resort.

- Jason Kander

Very few things in life are more fulfilling than being part of a team and knowing you're a part of something bigger than your own self-interest.

- Jason Kander

To me, serving wasn't uncommon, and my service paled in comparison to so many of my friends who had done so much more. In my world - as a citizen soldier - I was surrounded by other soldiers just doing their jobs.

- Jason Kander

I am a person who cares deeply about what is happening in the country, and for me, in most ways since getting out of the service, at least, politics has been the way in which I see myself best serving and trying to make things better.

- Jason Kander

I don't judge anybody who chose not to serve during Vietnam, at all. It's a different time, and I don't judge anybody for the decision they made.

- Jason Kander

No matter how many times the court shuts them down or how many Americans speak out to defend their rights, Republican politicians who stand to gain from suppressing voters won't back down. They'll only change their tactics.

- Jason Kander

As a former Captain in the Army National Guard, I trained hundreds of soldiers to lead troops into combat.

- Jason Kander

Frankly, a lot of candidates have no problem being sold to the highest bidder if it means they will win.

- Jason Kander

You don't get to recall a senator just because you don't like her or just because you want the seat for your own party.

- Jason Kander

I believe in President Obama.

- Jason Kander

No one seriously believes that cutting the minimum wage is good for workers.

- Jason Kander

Politics, as a profession, is not about making the right political decision. It's about making the right decision and then managing the political consequences.

- Jason Kander

That's a compliment reserved only for politicians. You never hear someone say, 'You know what I love about my accountant? He's just a normal guy.' That's how low the bar is for people in politics.

- Jason Kander

I launched more formal elections investigations than any secretary of state in Missouri history, and we didn't get a single complaint about voter impersonation fraud - not one.

- Jason Kander

My experience in uniform has shaped my life and informed who I am like no other, and it's difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea that I will no longer be a soldier.

- Jason Kander

Voters aren't asking to be pandered to and aren't asking to be tricked.

- Jason Kander

I'm a Democrat because I want every American to have a fair shot at the American Dream. That's what ties it all together for me, and in my experience, that means recognizing that no one is dealing with life one 'issue' at a time.

- Jason Kander

For far too long, Congress has been focused on the CEOs, the millionaires, the billionaires.

- Jason Kander

Politicians never say never to anything.

- Jason Kander

If you're out there saying something that you don't personally believe, then it doesn't really matter if a voter agrees with what you're saying. If they don't believe that you believe it, then they're not going to listen to you anyway.

- Jason Kander

What we believe is that health care should be a right in this country; I happen to believe that means that we should be for single-payer.

- Jason Kander

We have got to zero in on the fact that all of us, no matter where you live, want our kids' lives to be an upgrade over our own, and we would really like it if our kids could come back and live where we raised them.

- Jason Kander

Trump is doing the country a disservice making things up about the integrity of our elections.

- Jason Kander

I think that it's a good thing that you want to be part of making the world a better place, including between nine and five.

- Jason Kander

Not everyone who goes to Washington becomes Washington.

- Jason Kander

If you've been willing to put your life on the line to do something important for your country or your state, putting your job on the line is really not a very big deal.

- Jason Kander

Unions continue to be important for raising the standard of living for working Americans, whether or not they happen to be in a union.

- Jason Kander

Really, Donald Trump's entire message is that people like Sen. Blunt are the problem.

- Jason Kander

The president is in charge of the military so that a single individual - accountable to Americans - is responsible for its successes and failures.

- Jason Kander

I'm proud to be a Democrat, and I feel pretty strongly that the country would be better off with Democrats in charge.

- Jason Kander

The sacrifices our warfighters make for us is simply astonishing in modern American society.

- Jason Kander

In the Army, I learned how to use and respect my rifle.

- Jason Kander

My wife is gorgeous and brilliant, and my son True is my best little buddy in the world.

- Jason Kander

Voters are okay with you believing something they don't believe, as long as they think you genuinely believe it, and you believe it because you care about them.

- Jason Kander

I wasn't out there pretending I was a conservative Democrat. I'm somebody who has talked a lot about and has done the act of running as who you are.

- Jason Kander

The Democrats need to be confident about making their argument... and making sure that everybody knows we care about them.

- Jason Kander

I love this country, and I won't let losing an election force me away from the process.

- Jason Kander

Anyone can be something. Leaders want to do something.

- Jason Kander

I could work with anybody. This is why we need more veterans in Congress.

- Jason Kander

Doing things right in politics is no different than doing things right in life: Tell the truth, be yourself.

- Jason Kander