Pastor who lost child in Sutherland Springs church shooting launches Senate bid
Pastor Frank Pomeroy is running as a Republican for a Texas State Senate seat.
Pastor Frank Pomeroy, who lost his daughter in the deadliest church shooting in American history, says he's running for office to bring humanity back into the political climate -- not gun control.
He is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, where a gunman killed 26 people in November 2017 -- including his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, who "just loved everyone." Pomeroy, a Republican who will face off against Democratic incumbent Judith Zaffirini in a deep-blue state Senate district, told Fox News he was compelled to run after the response to recent shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio.
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"It was immediately politicized and talking points were brought up that I think should've been put to the side for a week or two and concentrate on the people rather than being re-elected or elected as some of those with that voice was trying to do," Pomeroy told "Fox & Friends" Thursday morning.
He said he was angered to see Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, as well as others, push gun control after the El Paso attack where 22 people were killed in a Wal-Mart by a gunman targeting Hispanics.
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"Rather than going in and speaking mercy and grace and loving these people, it immediately went to the talking point of the inanimate object, 'Oh, we have to have gun control,' and they went to speaking about the guns in America rather than healing the local people of that area."
He added: "We need to make government be for the people again and people need to realize that they're important to us, not just for votes, but that we care about you, we want you to grow up in a society where you don't have to be living in fear. There's more to life than just existing. We should be able to live with joy and have fun."
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Pomeroy argues the focus should be on mental health, not gun control.
He is running in a district that President Trump lost by double digits in 2016.
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