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BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Senator John Kennedy now has a challenger for his seat in the U.S. Senate. Democrat Luke Mixon is taking on the incumbent in his race for office.

“Our infrastructure is crumbling, our education is suffering, healthcare costs are soaring,” Mixon said.

He looks to set himself apart from the gridlock happening on Capitol Hill.

“I feel like instead of solving problems there is too much partisan bickering,” Mixon said.

The Navy veteran from Bunkie is coming down from the sky after years of serving in the military as a fighter pilot.

“From an early age I knew I wanted to serve in the military, I wanted to go to the Naval Academy, become a fighter pilot, and I wanted to go to top gun,” Mixon said.

Now he is landing on the political runway to address some key issues. While his official platform is yet to be released, he said he wants to fight for veterans to get the benefits they need. He will put a focus on roads, bridges, and broadband, and other resources laid out in infrastructure bills which have taken the focus of Washington this year.

“Those are critical resources that we desperately need here, and I believe Senator Kennedy referred to it as wasteful spending. I think he called it ‘stupid stuff,’ it’s not stupid stuff,” Mixon said.

Going up against incumbent Sen. Kennedy won’t be easy for Mixon. Kennedy is starting out with millions of dollars going towards his campaign and an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. But Mixon feels up to the task to go about things differently than the senator.

“I feel like Senator Kennedy’s answer to almost everything is just ‘no,’” Mixon said. “I think we need to work with others, reach across the aisle, and find solutions that are not best for the politician, but solutions that are best for the people of Louisiana.”

Mixon said he is not a politician, but he believes that is what the state and country need more of on Capitol Hill.

“If nothing else I want to stop pandering to hate and division and ignorance and fear.”

In the year leading up to the election, he plans to hit the campaign trail when he is not serving as a commercial pilot to meet with the public and get his message across. Catch the full interview with Mixon on This Week in Louisiana Politics on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.