Posted on 06/09/2022 4:24:32 AM PDT by cotton1706
Two neighboring South Carolina congressional districts share more than a border, as their Republican primary elections double as proxy wars over former President Donald Trump’s hold on the party.
Reps. Nancy Mace and Tom Rice, of South Carolina’s 1st and 7th Districts, respectively, are incumbents contending with opponents endorsed by Trump after criticizing the former president. The June 14 races present another test of Trump’s influence on Republican rank and file after inconclusive results from primaries conducted so far, including in Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Rice, who supported impeaching Trump over the Capitol riot, will be judged by the 7th District days after the House Jan. 6 committee’s highly anticipated first public hearing. He has spent his campaign defending that vote, as he seeks a sixth term representing South Carolina’s solidly conservative Grand Strand and Pee Dee regions.
Rice is cognizant of the national consequences of the contest, in which his main rival is state Rep. Russell Fry. Rice's own internal polling indicates a runoff is likely, and Fry has undermined his honesty and trustworthiness with self-enrichment allegations. Rice has denied any wrongdoing regarding the accusations.
“It’s that much more important to help to set the direction of the party moving forward,” he told reporters at an upscale Florence hotel restaurant.
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan, who appeared alongside Rice at the luncheon, agreed later during a business roundtable down the road. Ryan is hopeful there will be parallels between Georgia and South Carolina after Georgia Republicans renominated Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last month, despite Trump’s best efforts to oust them.
“The more he keeps endorsing people, and those other people don’t win, the faster our party gets back to being a party based on policies and principles and not a person,” Ryan said of Trump.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Translation: Only WE should be able to influence elections. Only OUR preferred candidates have principles.
Trump's endorsement record after Tuesday is 116 wins, 7 losses.
I sure hope the fine people of South Carolina do the correct thing. All politics and joking aside. We need a MASSIVE shift in policy, direction and focus. Not just a mid term 3% course correction. WE NEED A NEW CONGRESS. Everyone that didn’t stand up to the CRIME committed on November 3rd. Needs to be removed from office. Dissidents ARISE.
More like, Former Useful Idiot, now just idiot Paul Ryan . . .
Trump’s “endorsement power” is a proven thing that has been repeatedly demonstrated.
100-6 is inconclusive. OK.
Mace is my representative. I couldn’t wait until the primary to vote for her opponent, Katie Arrington, because Mace has been a major disappointment. Then I find out not long ago that my neighborhood will be in CD-6 next year thanks to redistricting. Clyburn will be my rep next year. Good grief. Of course, I still hope Mace gets defeated, but it is a serious disappointment that she would not be my rep.
Georgia has open primaries so Dems voted for Kemp [blech] and Raffensberger [double blech.] Does South Carolina have open primaries? I wish they would say how many of the 6 "losses" [compared to 100 wins] Trump has had were in open primaries and I wish they would do an analysis of dem voters who voted in repub primaries there.
Unfortunately, it is an open primary so you will have a lot of Dems voting for the RINOS.
THIS will be the true test for Trump, obviously much more so than simply picking an incumbent who has a 95% chance of winning whether there’s an endorsement or not, like the vast majority of his wins.
RINOs and (other) Democrats are going to go all-in to support the liberal incumbents, Rice and Mace, who already have astronomical advantages in cash and other support from the liberal Uniparty establishment.
It would be great for Fry and Arrington to win outright next week, but the more likely outcome is a runoff which will be held 2 weeks later.
IF South Carolina’s rules permit voting in a runoff without having voted in the primary (like Georgia in January of 2021?), we’re *really* going to see a flood of Democrat voters supporting RINOs at that time, if we don’t see that already on 6/14.
Whatever the outcome there is — barring massive Democrat vote fraud — zero chance of Republicans losing either seat in November. Which means the establishment’s only chance to torpedo the conservatives is in the primary and the runoff.
Unfortunately, I live in Clyburn’s district. Talk about gerrymandering
SC does INDEED have open primaries, one of only 15 States to do so. IMO, the Dems will turn out for Rice and he’ll still get the RINO vote. The irony is that Fry, who is a State Rep., did NOT push for close primaries in direct opposition to his constituents. It might come back and hurt him. PS Fry’s conservative voting record is 58%. A bad endorsement.
He should have endorsed Mike Crispi against Chris Smith in NJ.
He should have endorsed Mike Crispi against Chris Smith in NJ.
Desperate propaganda there by Ryan. Trump’s candidates have been trouncing the RINO Establishment’s candidates so far. I bet it continues.
South Carolina loves Bush League Republicans.
They are about all they elect.
Flimsey Grahamnesty has been re-elected TWICE after THREE amnesty votes.
Yes open primary of course. Dems always cross over. How do you think we get stuck with Lindsey?
This is infuriating. As you point out Trump’s current record is 116-7, and yet the media try to make it out that EVERY election in ANY jurisdiction is a referendum on Trump.
Will there be a Fry-Rice debate?
“This is infuriating. As you point out Trump’s current record is 116-7, and yet the media try to make it out that EVERY election in ANY jurisdiction is a referendum on Trump.”
Tom Rice is a big one since he voted to impeach Trump. So they are DESPERATE that he prevail.
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