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‘I’m gonna punch D.C. in the face’ Utah candidate says in new ad mocking politics

Posted at 4:11 PM, Oct 27, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-27 20:50:49-04

DRAPER, Utah -- As an unaffiliated candidate, Sean Whalen knows he's facing an uphill battle in the race for Utah's 3rd Congressional District.

Now, he's getting attention for a campaign video mocking modern politics.

"My campaign is really simple," Whalen says on the video. "I'm gonna punch D.C. in the face!"

Sean Whalen in a campaign video posted on Facebook.

The video, posted on his campaign's Facebook page, shows him checking the boxes a conservative politician does to get elected. He sports a lapel flag pin to improve his poll numbers, holds a gun and tries to look like "the working man."

He talks about "turning America around" only to show him sitting backward on a horse.

"Oh, sh--," he says as he falls off.

He ends the ad proclaiming: "I'm Sean Whalen and you're damn right I approve this message!"

Watch Whalen's campaign video here:

In an interview with FOX 13 on Friday, Whalen said he was happy the ad has gotten as much attention as it has. (As of Friday afternoon, the Facebook video had nearly 750,000 views.)

He insists he would not be a typical politician, preferring to use blunt and sometimes profane language as he talks about issues like health care and term limits. He called most political ads "crap."

"All of the ads are the same! Doesn't matter if you're Republican or Democrat. It's either an attack ad saying how big of a jerk your opponent is or how great you are," he said. "We put on a shiny hard hat and say how we're for the working man but we have no dirt under our fingernails."

Whalen, who is a social media and Internet marketing consultant by profession, said he was serious about his run for the seat vacated by Jason Chaffetz. So far, campaign finance reports show him raising about $30,000 in the effort.

A campaign sign in Draper for Sean Whalen's run for 3rd Congressional District. (Photo by Ben Winslow, FOX 13 News)

Whalen touted himself as a conservative who wants to shrink government and he said he was supportive of President Trump's agenda. Whalen said it was his style of plain talk on the issues that's attracting people to his campaign.

"It's truth! Truth comes across as being very blunt sometimes," he told FOX 13. "When you're used to being lied to, when you're being lulled to sleep by manipulation and seduction, sometimes truth hurts. I happen to be very direct."

The campaigns of Republican frontrunner John Curtis and Democrat Kathie Allen declined to comment on the ad.

"A fun video," said Jim Bennett, the United Utah Party candidate. "Although I'd much rather work with people to get things done than punch anyone in the face."

A poll conducted by the Utah Debate Commission put Whalen at slightly above zero percent. Whalen rejected it, saying people are sending him pictures on Twitter and Facebook with his name checked on their ballots.

"I can listen to the poll or listen to a theory of what a campaign should look like, or I can go out and talk to voters, real people," he said. "And they're telling me, 'We love what you're doing, we love what you're saying, we love what you're all about.' It might be coarse, it might not be polished like some other politicians. But we know you're telling us the truth."