23-year-old announces run for Congress

Ron Meyer is fed up with mess in Washington

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," April 29, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: And you thought this guy was kidding? It turns out this kid was serious. Twenty-three-year-old Ron Meyer really is running for Congress, pretty much on the Charles Payne platform.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: He's fed up with the mess in Washington and the debt the politicians are dumping on young folks' laps, so he is lapping to Washington and announcing it first here on "Your World."

Ron, you have an uphill battle, they say, running for Congress in a district that right now is held by a Democratic incumbent who barely won, but who many argue has gotten a strong lock on that. You disagree.

RON MEYER, R-VIRGINIA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I totally disagree.

I think that we have to take a fresh message to people, especially young Americans. Last election, the guy I'm running against won the youth vote over -- overwhelmingly, and I think we have to take a new message to young people and frankly to the country.

The reason why I'm running for Congress fundamentally is because Washington is kicking and punting all of the big problems on the debt and the entitlement to young Americans and future generations.

And I think if they're going to do that, if they're going to punt all the programs -- all the problems to the young Americans, it's time for a young American to leave now -- to lead now. And I think that if we take that message to this district, and frankly if we take it even to federal workers and say, look at the debt, look at the projections, look at how fast the interest payments alone are growing, we're going to have to pay for this somehow, and if you want to keep your job as a federal worker, if you want to keep your pension, you have to get with us and help us balance the budget.

CAVUTO: All right.

We have called Congressman Connolly to come, just fair and balanced to this, but a lot of folks are supporting you, and former Congressman Tom Davis, a Republican, former Congressman Artur Davis, of course a Democrat who became a Republican. You're the only announced Republican in the race thus far. But I think you have to be 25 to be in Congress. So you argue you would be 25 by the time you would, you hope, win and get sworn in, right?

MEYER: Well, Neil, unlike some of the folks in Washington, I actually enjoy reading the Constitution. And, yes, I understand the age requirement. You have to be 25. I will turn 25 September 28 before the election.

And as you will know, Joe Biden actually won at age 29 to be a senator. And so you actually only have to reach your legal age before the -- before you're sworn in. And I will be 25 before that time.

CAVUTO: I don't know why whether using Joe Biden as an example is advancing it.

(LAUGHTER)

CAVUTO: But I do see what you're talking about.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: There is going to be a pile-on in this very heated race. There are lot of folks interested in it. How will you differentiate yourself, besides being the youngest?

MEYER: Well, I think that we have to have -- send someone to Washington who has a different sort of life experience, someone who understands that only three in 10 Americans under 30, 30 percent under 30, have full-time work, that only half of college graduates right now are even getting a chance at finding jobs. Half of them are underemployed, and they're getting $30,000 in debt when they leave college.

So we have a great youth depression going on. And we haven't seen these unemployment levels since the Great Depression. And no one in D.C. is talking about it. So, I think we have to send someone with a unique set of skills, a unique set of life experiences that can actually articulate the problems in this country.

We shouldn't just be focusing on gun control and immigration right now. We have an unemployment crisis. And what we have to do is use Clinton-era spending policies, Reagan-era economic politics, get to a balanced budget. Get young people back to work.

When Reagan cut taxes, youth unemployment went from 18 to 10 percent over his term. And that's exactly what we need right now. We need those types of policies in D.C. And frankly I don't think any other candidate is offering that, especially in this district.

CAVUTO: We shall watch closely. Ron Meyer, thank you. Good seeing you again.

MEYER: Thanks, Neil.

CAVUTO: Ron Meyer.

Content and Programming Copyright 2013 Fox News Network, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2013 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.