NEW ADS, ENDORSEMENTS, ATTACKS … AND A CHANCE FOR YOU TO SHOW WHICH CANDIDATE YOU ARE SUPPORTING
We’ve got several developments to report on this week in the crowded race for South Carolina’s fourth congressional district (map) …
First up, one of our favorite candidates in the battle to replace Trey Gowdy – Upstate corporate “chieftess” Shannon Pierce – is out with a quintet of fifteen-second advertisements. These spots – known as “bookends” – are running heavily on social media and are obviously timed for placement on Upstate television stations as well.
Pierce’s campaign is also reportedly working on a 30-second television spot to run in advance of the June 12 election, which is now less than three weeks away.
Here’s one of Pierce’s new ads …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Not bad …
To view the other four 15-second “bookend” spots, click here, here, here and here.
Meanwhile on the campaign trail, Pierce is touting the endorsement of former Utah governor and two-time national cabinet director Mike Leavitt.
“Shannon is a solution finder,” Leavitt said in endorsing Pierce. “I’ve watched her develop technologies that provide better healthcare at lower costs. She possesses a well-grounded, conservative philosophy that aligns with those she seeks to represent.”
Will Pierce’s late push be enough to propel her into contention in this race? We shall see … as we’ve said since she first began contemplating her candidacy, she certainly has the most upside of any of the candidates seeking to replace Gowdy.
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THEN THERE WERE TWELVE …
Barry Bell, we hardly knew ya …
One of the first candidates to jump into this race, Bell became the first to drop out this week. He also became the first ex-candidate to issue an endorsement of one of the dozen remaining hopefuls – throwing his support (such as it was) behind former Greenville County GOP chairman Stephen Brown.
Why did he pick Brown?
“I’ve listened to what every candidate had to say as related to domestic affairs and foreign affairs, and besides myself Stephen is the only one that has consistently sided with the Constitution and where the founders were on foreign policy and international relations,” Bell said in a statement.
Brown has also received the endorsement of FreedomWorks, a prominent national limited government advocacy group.
“District activists asked us to get involved in this race because they believe Stephen Brown is the only credible replacement for Rep. Gowdy,” said Noah Wall, the group’s executive director. “He’s the conservative voice of reason that Congress desperately needs.”
We’re told additional national endorsements for Brown could be forthcoming …
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WILLIAM TIMMONS BLASTED …
Along with former state senator Lee Bright, current state senator William Timmons is one of two candidates in the #SC4 battle most likely to advance to the next round – a “Republican” runoff election scheduled for June 26. As we often explain to the uninitiated, in South Carolina partisan primary elections involving more than two contestants, if no candidate receives a majority of votes on the first ballot – i.e. fifty percent plus one – then the top two finishers square off two weeks later in a runoff election.
As of this writing, Bright is a virtual lock for one of those two spots – with Timmons the lead candidate for the second slot.
Of course Timmons has had a contentious relationship with many limited government advocates since taking office – including his controversial advocacy in regards to the disputed future of the Greenville Health System (GHS).
These advocates are pushing back hard against Timmons’ candidacy – including a recent dossier dogging out his record of legislative “accomplishment” since taking office.
According to the dossier – a copy of which was provided to this news site – Timmons was the primary sponsor of only sixteen bills and four joint resolutions, only one of which was enacted into law. The dossier – written by an activist who supports limited government candidates – also blasts Timmons for flip-flopping on GHS. Specifically, it accuses him of amending his original bill regarding the privatization of this system to one that “completely reversed (his) position.”
(Click to view)
(Via: Timmons for Congress)
“For his entire term in the state Senate William Timmons has been responsible for very little legislation, almost none of any substance, and has been spectacularly ineffective in promoting the bills he does champion,” the dossier’s author noted. “William Timmons has proven himself to be an ineffective legislator even in the tiny pond of the South Carolina Senate. His hubris and sense of entitlement far exceed his competence. How successful could he be if his vaunted ambition is rewarded by sending him to Congress? The fourth congressional district would then be represented by an inconsequential back-bencher who will be incapable of protecting and advancing the interests of his constituents or his state. We can do better.”
Wow … them’s fightin’ words!
A source close to Timmons took umbrage …
“It’s impressive that William has gotten anything done in the S.C. Senate in two years, given that leadership hates new ideas, freshmen senators, and conservatives,” the source told us. “(Timmons) sponsored major term limits legislation, ethics reforms, a death penalty fix, and solved the Greenville Hospital System problem when everyone said it was political suicide.”
The source added that “serving two years in the State House and State Senate, respectively, didn’t stop Tim Scott and Mick Mulvaney from becoming outstanding legislators in Washington.”
Fair points …
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JOSH KIMBRELL REALLY WENT THERE …
This news site has written previously on Upstate radio host Josh Kimbrell’s conflicting views on immigration – and not long thereafter Kimbrell availed himself of our invitation to offer a rebuttal.
(Which reminds us candidates, every night is open mic night here at FITSNews. If you’ve got something you want to say on an issue – or in response to something that’s been written – our mic is your mic).
In fact, to borrow the immortal words of Eminem, you can even “take the mic home with you.”
Anyway, given his vulnerability on this issue we were surprised to see one of Kimbrell’s recent mail pieces focus on the immigration issue. Not only that, Kimbrell’s mail piece touted his alleged support for U.S. president Donald Trump on this issue.
Take a look …
(Click to view)
(Via: Provided)
Kimbrell may “stand with Trump” now, but he didn’t two years ago …
When Trump clinched the “Republican” presidential nomination in May of 2016, Kimbrell published a blog post bashing him – and even took a swipe at his advocacy on immigration.
“This coalition that has held the Republican Party together, and helped guide a nation, collapsed with Donald Trump’s emergence as the presumptive 2016 GOP nominee tonight,” he wrote. “The Republican Party has now, effectively, nominated a candidate who is neither a fiscal nor a social conservative. Mr. Trump’s entire appeal has been securing the border and ‘bombing the hell out of ISIS,’ which, while important, do not make a president.”
Oy … those words have not aged well.
Kimbrell went on to say “I sadly believe that Trump’s nomination all but assures a Hillary Clinton presidency, which means that consistent conservatives need now to either rebuild a Republican Party that reunites the Reagan coalition, or an entirely new party that can replace the GOP and rebuild that coalition on its own.”
Can anybody say “weather vane?”
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SURVEY SAYS …
Enough of our thoughts on this race, though … what are yours?
With such a huge field, polling a race like this is notoriously difficult. But we wanted to give our readers the opportunity to weigh in with their picks, so we have a survey (below) which includes every single one of the twelve candidates running.
So cast your vote!