A former Navy SEAL and Shark Tank contestant said he plans to run for the U.S. House seat occupied by three-term Rep. Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz., the Washington Examiner reported Tuesday.
Eli Crane, a 41-year-old protege of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, earned billionaire Mark Cuban’s backing on Shark Tank for bottle openers made from dummy ammunition.
Crane explained to the Examiner why he's running for Congress.
"I'm very, very concerned about the current state of this country and the direction that this country is headed," Crane told the Examiner. "I got a chance and an opportunity to live the American dream. And I want to make sure that the following generations are as blessed as I have been."
Crane is aiming to represent Arizona's 1st District, which was won by former President Donald Trump in 2016 and by President Joe Biden last year.
The former Yuma, Arizona, high school quarterback said he plans to focus on Biden’s open border policies, the liberal push for critical race theory education in schools, and election integrity.
"I think I'm gonna be able to make this a national race," he told the Examiner.
O'Halleran, according to Crane, is a puppet of liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and has voted with her 96% of the time.
"I proved in the past that I can outperform expectations, that I can overcome adversity, and I can definitely make this a national race," he said.
Crane said he was motivated to enter politics by seeing too many politicians with no "skin in the game" just coasting by avoiding big issues.
"I noticed how few people with influence are willing to talk about things that matter, and it seems like everybody that has a company or a platform, especially in the day and age of 'cancel culture,' is unwilling to do so," Crane said.
"And so, I started thinking to myself, wait a minute, if I fought for this country and I was willing to die for it, and the biggest threat to our country is within, why shouldn't I speak up about it?"
Crane left college and joined the Navy just days following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He eventually joined the Navy’s special operations SEALs as a sniper, and trained with Kyle for two years.
"Chris loved making my life, my fellow new guys' lives, a living hell, but he did it because war was tough, and I think he wanted us to be prepared," Crane said of Kyle.
After serving 13 years in the Navy, Crane and wife Jen started a Tucson boutique firm that crafted bottle openers out of .50-caliber shells, an ammo favorite of the SEALs.
They appeared on "Shark Tank" in 2014 and won the backing of Cuban and businessman Kevin O’Leary for their firm Bottle Breacher.
The company quickly went from six to 35 employees and war veterans.
"We have a hell of a backstory," he said. "We started a multimillion-dollar brand, out of a car garage with a Dremel tool, some spray paint, and a computer. People want folks going into office that can get things done, overcome the odds, and do more with less, and we've proven that we can do that."
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