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Presidential candidate Rand Paul speaks one-on-one with FOX17

Posted at 9:07 PM, Jul 11, 2015
and last updated 2015-07-11 21:07:50-04

HOLLAND, Mich. — Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul made his rounds in Michigan this weekend.

Paul stopped a long the lake-shore on Saturday, where he discussed what’s setting him apart from the other candidates in the Republican party.

“I like coming back to Michigan. I’ve been here several times and I actually have some family that lives in the Holland area, so we are always excited to come home,” said Senator Paul.

Stopping in west Michigan on Saturday, Kentucky Senator and Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, met with voters in Holland, making note of his triumphs in the state.

“We want to win Michigan and right now we are doing better against Hilary Clinton than any republican. In fact where states won by President Obama, we lead Hilary Clinton in five of those states and I think that’s because we attract independents,” said Paul.

Paul said what sets him apart is his appeal to younger voters and minorities, and wanting to simplify the federal government.

“I’ve spent time in Michigan this time in Detroit, Highland Park, Flint, going to a lot of places that republicans haven’t gone to let people know that I’m a different kind of republican and I’m going to appeal to voters of the working class, of the business class, rich, poor, white black. We are going to appeal for all votes,” said Paul.

Paul said that his mission to stop the NSA from obtaining personal information about the average American is helping his campaign gain more support.

“The more the better because my candidacy is unique in that I’m the only one out there that’s been trying to defend the right to privacy, the fact that the NSA shouldn’t be looking at all of our phone records. That’s a unique position for me in the republican field,” said Paul.

Prison reform and changing the tax code is also on his priority list.

“Maybe we have gone too far in the war on drugs and that we ought to find a different way to approach this. Maybe to give some of our kids a second chance who made mistakes growing up,” said Paul. “I’m going to eliminate the entire tax code and have one single tax rate, 14.5% for businesses, and 14.5% for individuals. So one single tax rate and I would get rid of the entire 70 pages of the tax code. People would be able to file their tax return on one page,” said Paul.

When asked about presidential hopeful Lindsey Graham’s statement to Fox News on Friday, where he said the network was unfairly leaving out candidates in their August debate by limiting the amount of participants to 10, Paul said that he’s confident he will still be in the running.

“I think that there will be some candidates more serious than others and I think we will leave that up to the party and the networks to figure out,” said Paul.

Saturday’s visit in Holland was a part of the “Stand with Rand” tour.

On immigration issues, Paul has also announced plans to stop federal funding for any “sanctuary” cities who he said aren’t abiding by the federal law.