I first met Mike Flynn in 2009 at a park in Quincy, Illinois for a tea party rally where we both spoke. It was in the early days when we were still caucusing with other grassroot groups to form the coalitions that would eventually save the House for the GOP and get conservatives in elected seats. He had wild, curly hair, an ever-present cup of black coffee in his hand, and was scowling at some moderate Republican lawmaker who came out in an attempt to snake into grassroots's good graces. We got along instantly. Flynn became a friend and a compatriot in the cause, whether we were crashing Media Matters's office in DC or going on the offense against elected officials and their smear tactics. Mike Flynn's tolerance for BS is nonexistent, he knows and loathes how DC works, and he views political office like most people view jury duty: a necessity of civics, not a feature of industry. Illinois voters will get a strong, limited government conservative in Mike Flynn, a candidate who has fought, mostly unrecognized, for the cause longer than the tea party movement has been in existence. I would support his candidacy solely to see him argue with people on the House floor, but I endorse him for this seat because there is no one better to serve IL18 than Mike Flynn.