I've had very little negative pushback. I think people in the Senate know that I have believed, for a number of years, and have been outspoken that we need to listen to what the American people are telling us, and we need to focus more on the well-being of people who make lower wages, $50,000 and below.

I just want you to know that as a southerner, who actually saw discrimination and have no doubt it existed in a systematic and powerful and negative way to the people - great millions of people in the South, particularly, of America - I know that was wrong. I know we need to do better.

We need to give them [the Justice Department] as much power as we can without eroding fundamental liberties.

Basically [I become a Republican], pretty early. I had an English teacher that got me to subscribe to the National Review.

At least 99.92% of illegal immigrants and visa overstays without known crimes on their records did not face removal.

I think the elites who have done nothing about it, who don't want a wall and don't care that the border is illegal, they see this as a threat.

The greatest disaster of all was after all the difficulties and loss of life and expenditures, President [Barak] Obama walked away, in 2011, and it is a disaster. And now we've got half of Iraq under the ISIS control and terrorists, and Iran has moved in because we weren't there, and they've taken more influence. Just a few thousand troops, in my opinion, would have avoided that.