Kid Rock: ‘F— no, I’m not running for Senate’
Kid Rock is ending months of speculation about a possible Senate bid, saying, “F— no, I’m not running for Senate.”
“Are you f—ing kidding me? Who couldn’t figure that out?” the “All Summer Long” singer said on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show on Tuesday.
“I’m releasing a new album. I’m going on tour, too. Are you f—ing shitting me?” he asked Stern.
The performer, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, had flirted for months with a possible Republican bid against Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, hawking “Kid Rock for U.S. Senate” T-shirts and criticizing the Democrat, saying Americans were “sick and tired” of “bullshit” from politicians.
“We start going with it, everyone gets their panties in a bunch,” Ritchie said Tuesday of the chatter.
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He said he gave some of his team a heads up that an entry into politics wasn’t actually happening.
“I have people that work for me, they’re on the in, I’m like, ‘F— no we’re not doing it. But let’s roll with it for a little while. This is awesome.’”
Asked whether it’s a “strange position” for a musician to get political, Ritchie replied, “It’s the worst advice that I ever gave myself. But it’s been the most creative thing I’ve ever done. And I’ve gotten to see everyone’s true colors.”
Stabenow’s reelection campaign had fundraised off a potential matchup against the entertainer, saying in an email to supporters last month that if Ritchie ran “he might actually win the Republican primary.”
Stabenow’s office declined ITK’s request for comment about Ritchie.
But after saying he wouldn’t run for office, Ritchie later told Stern he was leaving the door open to a Senate bid if the “left wing keeps f–king” with him.
“If they keep f–king with me in the papers and everything, I’m going to run,” a laughing Ritchie said. “And I’m going to go to f–king DC, I’m going to beat the shit out of Debbie — whatever the f–k her name is — and then I’m going to go to D.C. and I’m going to smack the living shit out of all of them motherf–kers on the Hill.”
Ritchie, 46, thanked those who supported him, including everyone from “the White House, to where I live, to [former White House chief strategist Stephen] Bannon.”
Ritchie railed against his critics, saying the moment talk of a run began “everyone goes, ‘He’s the Klan wizard, he’s homophobic, he’s Islamophobic.’”
“I’m like, this is kind of fun,” Ritchie said with a chuckle.
“I played Barack Obama’s f—ing inauguration,” Ritchie said. “I didn’t vote for him.”
Ritchie visited the White House in April and posed for photos with President Trump in the Oval Office alongside former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent. He said of the commander in chief, “Trump is the f—ing shit.”
But he also was critical of Trump, saying, “His messaging is not the best. And if I get to talk to him again, play golf or whatever, I’d be like, ‘Dude, we got to talk about this.’”
“I think the things he’s doing is good,” Ritchie said. “I say dumb shit, but I’m like f—ing in a band.”
Updated at 10:48 a.m.
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