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South Carolina state representative Adam Morgan — chairman of the ultra-conservative S.C. Freedom Caucus (SCFC) — has officially announced his bid for the U.S. congress against embattled third-term incumbent William Timmons.
The proverbial Seven Trumpets of Revelation were sounded upon Morgan’s campaign announcement at the Historic Greer Depot on Thursday (November 16, 2023) – signaling a potentially Biblical beatdown in one of the most conservative congressional districts within the state.
But who is the staunch social conservative whose candidacy could rain down “hail and fire mixed with blood” (Revelations 8:7) on the head an incumbent already steeped in scandal and waning popularity?
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CONSERVATIVE FOR CONGRESS
Morgan, 34, an evangelical music executive from Dallas, Texas, is one of twenty lawmakers at the forefront of an intra-party battle – and a potential party transformation – within the S.C. General Assembly. In 2022, he was propelled to prominence when he co-founded the Freedom Caucus — a group whose members were expelled by their own party but subsequently empowered by a landmark federal campaign finance lawsuit.
While the fledgling caucus has nearly doubled in membership since last year, its legislative priorities and consecutive lawsuits lack support from the state’s “Republican” supermajority. This, of course, the same legislative majority that has failed to uphold basic conservative principles for nearly a decade, according to annual rankings from the American Conservative Union (ACU).
Despite pushback from his “watered-down” political party, Morgan credits the S.C. Freedom Caucus with shutting down a taxpayer-subsidized pediatric transgender clinic, curtailing the imposition of vaccine mandates (H. 3126), spearheading the permit-less carry of handguns (H. 3594) and banning most abortions after cardiac activity is detected (S. 474), among other legislative victories.
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“We’ve organized the most aggressive and successful conservative effort in South Carolina history,” Morgan said during his campaign announcement. “Most of the major conservative legislation passed over the last six years has been by members of the [SC] Freedom Caucus.”
Locally, caucus members sued the Charleston County School District (CCSD) and Lexington School District One (L1) for implementing Critical Race Theory curriculum prescribed by EL Education. Within months of their filing, L1 had terminated all curricula and service contracts with the provider — despite internal reviews alleging they were in compliance with state law.
As our audience is well aware, Freedom Caucus lawmakers are now under fire from pro-establishment, dark money entities sending various attack mailings and other missives into their districts. Ironically, the ongoing $600,000 smear campaign — waged by the so-called Palmetto Truth Project — has thus far served only to strengthen the caucus’ support and bolster its credibility among “real” conservatives.
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Morgan appealed to those conservatives at his announcement event.
“I get what’s at stake but I cannot do it alone,” Morgan said. “We the people of the fourth district should have control of who represents us. We should be funding great candidates to represent our values … unfortunately, our incumbent [Timmons] is not that aware of what’s happening in-district.”
Much to our chagrin, Morgan did not call attention to the “values” of his faithless, adulterous – and sanctimonious – opponent. Nor did he reference Timmons’ ignominious end to an enigmatic stint at the U.S. Naval Academy.
But who is the incumbent to our platform, and why do we take his myriad of shortcomings so personally?
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DAYS OF OUR CONGRESSMAN
Since 2018, Timmons has quietly represented the fourth district of South Carolina under an ironic political slogan, “Washington is broken.” And while he enjoyed an endorsement from former president Donald Trump in the last election cycle, he still received just 52.69 percent of the primary vote against a triad of unknown challengers.
Less than two weeks after limping into the 2022 general election, Timmons issued an unsolicited, 18-word “prayers and privacy” statement to this media outlet — ushering a viral and chaotic sex scandal which remains to this day a scandal of his own making.
As stated over and over and over again, FITSNews did not request a statement from Timmons regarding his personal life, nor did our platform plan to publish a story regarding his insignificant entanglement. In fact, we generally abstain from reporting on affairs unless they involve some sort of abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds or demonstrable hypocrisy.
The apparent goal of Timmons’ unsolicited statement was to expose his affair with self-styled socialite Paula Dhier and torpedo his marriage with Sarah Timmons, his wife of three years. Alas, the third-term congressman — and scion of one of the wealthiest families in South Carolina — lost control of the narrative and watched it explode like a dye pack shortly after a robbery.
The story couldn’t be controlled — thanks in large part to Dhier’s estranged husband, prominent Greenville-based real estate developer Ron Rallis. Not only did Rallis dilate the scandal, he accused Timmons of abusing his political powers to wrongfully arrest him and manipulate a family court proceeding involving his daughter.
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Last July, Timmons took to the airwaves and vehemently denied Rallis’ allegations during an interview on 106.3 WORD’s The Tara Show. He didn’t stop there, though, going so far as to characterize this media outlet as a “gutter gossip blog in Columbia.”
Despite those characterizations, multiple sources confirmed with our “gossip” blog that Timmons is — or at least was — the focus of a preliminary inquiry by the U.S. House of Representative’s ethics committee. The original focus of that inquiry? Allegations that Timmons may misused taxpayer dollars in pursuing his extramarital affair with Dhier.
As previously noted, though, the inquiry appears to have lost momentum after “Republicans” gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives back in January.
Timmons ethical problems may not be over, though, as he clearly attempted to manipulate his mistress’s divorce proceedings earlier this year by threatening Rallis and telling one witness in the case about creative “ways to manage an unreasonable subpoena.”
Such meddling would raise eyebrows no matter who was involved, but Timmons is a former prosecutor and practicing attorney — meaning he is an officer of the very court whose integrity he attempted to undermine.
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THE BLOODSPORT CONTINUES
To Morgan’s credit, he evidently recognizes that Timmons is his own worst enemy. During Thursday’s announcement, he refrained from so much as mentioning any part of the incumbent’s ignominies — instead focused on his own voting record.
In response, Timmons issued a fervent written statement to multiple media outlets over the weekend… just not our outlet. Fear not, though, as we’ve attached his rambling issued to the Post and Courier — which was identical to his rambling issued to The Greenville News, which was identical to his rambling issued to Fox Carolina …
I was born and raised in the 4th Congressional District. I know firsthand that Upstate voters are conservative, and they expect results. Adam Morgan thinks that by picking fights with fellow Republicans, he is advancing the conservative agenda, but we have enough self-serving, do-nothing politicians in Washington. We do not need another one.
The facts are clear: Adam Morgan has failed to deliver results in Columbia and does not deserve a promotion to Congress. In his own words, Adam’s greatest “legislative accomplishments” are filing a lawsuit and abandoning the Republican Party to form a third-party caucus that shrank in size under his “leadership.”
Morgan’s candidacy against Timmons is shaping up to be one of the highest profile intra-party battles of the 2024 Republican primary season — an election cycle in which multiple conservatives are expected to challenge centrist GOP officials.
Count on FITSNews to keep you up to speed on the latest developments in all of those battles …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy award-winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. Cut from a bloodline of outlaws and lawmen alike, he was the first of his family to graduate college which was accomplished with honors. Got a story idea or news tip for Andy? Email him directly and connect with him socially across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
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14 comments
Good to know “conservative” means anti-American ultra-right wing, bigoted religious extremists who want to force their vastly unpopular and straight up crazy views on every American.
Their leader has been found by different courts to be a rapist, a life long financial fraud and now an insurrectionist. Republican want to destroy America because they can’t handle the truth….they are a death cult who promote violence and domestic terrorism and normal Americans don’t want what they have to offer and they keep voting that way.
This story belongs in a intra-0arty GOP newsletter, not a self-proclaimed “news outlet” that rarely approaches journalism.
This story belongs in a intra-0arty GOP newsletter, not a self-proclaimed “media outlet” that rarely approaches journalism.
Blogs aren’t really a media outlet, but thanks for being kind.
Just dumb. Better chance of helping the state. Congress is hopelessly corrupted.
And check your facts, Andrew Fancher. The vaccine mandate bill protects no one in the private sector, oh we got exemptions and it also expires next month. So much for that. And constitutional carry did not pass, H3594. Know your facts don’t be like MSM journalists
Two losers (maybe more with time?) go at it …. a no-win choice for 4th district vogers.
Timmons is his own worst enemy. He could have held that seat as long as Joe Wilson has held the 1rst had he just kept it between the lines and in his pants. Morgan knows that, as well as everyone in that district. It’s his race to lose. Love the fire and brimstone references….maybe Morgan should use “He Gave them Hail Stones for Rain” from Handel’s Messiah as a crowd warm-up song on the campaign trail.
I’d put Morgan in the category of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz & Bozobert.
I would not be surprised if he was grabbing a guy’s junk in a dark theater, like Ol’ Granny Boebert!
The US is headed towards becoming a Christian fascist nation which will result in the US losing our status as a superpower because these people can’t even lead in their own lives, let alone lead a nation. But “tear it all down” seems to be their mantra.
How can that be when the number of people who identify themselves as Christian in the US has been going down continuously for the last 30 years? A fascist county?- yes, but that has been happening since the Bromance of FDR and Mussolini. A “Christian fascist county?” I think not. More like a secular humanist fascist country.
A trained monkey would be better than Timmons at this point
Whether you agree or not with the Republican platform, in total or in part, Democrats are not the party of the people; they are the party of consummate control morphing into Communism. Fabian socialism, motto: Make haste slowly; symbol: the turtle. They take over one office of authority at a time, spewing ‘tolerance’ or the ‘Constitution is outdated,’ & in time, they have the state which then gives them the country. Just recently in NY state, we get this post on X:
“??Travis??
@Travis_in_Flint
Happening Now: The New York Appellate Division has ruled in favor of Governor Kathy Hochul in a landmark case for government overreach.
Rule 2.13: “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures” will give the state of New York the ability to come in your home and take you away to quarantine without any notice and for any virus or infection they deem necessary.
You won’t have any option to fight it. No court date. Nothing. The rule has no age limit and they can keep you as long as they’d like. The rule also allows them to treat you as they see fit, including using methods that are still in testing.
This is one of the biggest abuses of power this country has ever seen. This is only the beginning. How long until this is nationwide, or even global?
10:54 PM · Nov 21, 2023
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Whether this gets bumped up to the SC or not; & if it does, whether it is found unconstitutional or not, the D process is slow & relentless. Vote for them at your own peril.