Seven candidates crowd the GOP primary for South Carolina's 3rd congressional district
With just less than a month to go before South Carolina’s June 11 primary, the race is heating up for the seven Republican candidates vying for the nomination for the state’s 3rd congressional district.
In January, U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan, the Republican currently representing District 3, abruptly announced he would not seek re-election, leaving room for a crowded race.
District 3, a rural district stretching from Oconee County to Saluda County and encompassing more than 750,000 residents, is a conservative part of the state, with an overwhelming majority voting for former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Franky Franco, Sheri Biggs, Kevin Bishop, Mark Burns, Phil Healy, Stewart Jones, and Elspeth Murday are all candidates looking to fill the Republican nomination to face a Democratic candidate in the November general election.
Bryon L. Best and Frances Guldner are the Democratic candidates on the primary ballot next month.
The seven Republican candidates will debate head-to-head at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Pickens County Performing Arts Center. The debate is hosted by the Pickens County Republican Party.
Because of the crowded field, many candidates also expect a run-off. If no candidate receives the majority of votes, measured by garnering 50% plus 1, a runoff will be held between the two candidates with the most votes on June 25.
Candidates using different campaign styles
All candidates use and strategize a unique campaign style. Mark Burns, an early supporter of Trump in 2015 and a pastor of Easley’s Harvest Praise and Worship Center has been holding rallies from Pickens County to Abbeville.
“People are hungry and want someone to fight for the people and I know that I’m the one for the job,” Burns said about the rallies, which bring a crowd of people often donning a blue “Mark Burns for U.S. Congress” shirts.
Burns is the only Trump-endorsed candidate in the race.
“In Congress, Mark will help me secure the border, stop illegal immigration, uphold the rule of law, grow the economy and protect and defend our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in April.
More: 'Conservative ally': SC Gov. Henry McMaster endorses Rep. William Timmons for re-election
The campaign is Burns's third attempt to run for Congress. He failed twice as a candidate in the 4th congressional district.
Other candidates said they utilize what some might think of as the “old-fashioned” way to campaign by door-knocking and talking to residents. Snow and Franco said they used door-knocking to understand what voters are looking for and their top issues.
Franco, a Cuban American, and a Bob Jones University graduate said he’s hearing concerns about securing the border and raising costs due to inflation. A major part of Franco’s message focuses on his parents being immigrants. His mother fled from Cuba during Fidel Castro’s reign and his father immigrated from Ecuador.
“I think part of what makes me a little bit unique as a candidate is that I am a son of recent immigrants so I can tell a story about how there is a right way to do this,” Franco said. “And I think there's a little bit of a narrative out there from the left that, you know, the Republican Party is anti-immigration, and I don’t think that’s true.”
Biggs, a candidate endorsed by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, has released three television ads since February.
“Joe Biden’s immigration crisis will never be solved by career politicians and career candidates using the border as a political photo opportunity,” said Biggs in a press release regarding her latest television ad discussing immigration. “I am not a career politician and I have never run for office before. My neighbors in South Carolina’s Third Congressional District can rest assured that I will put my military experience and mission-focused leadership skills to work in offering solutions to the most critical issues facing our nation.”
Some of the campaigns tackle issues such as abortion, border security, and inflation. Bishop, who served as Sen. Lindsey Graham’s communications director for 21 years, has all three issues listed on his campaign website.
Other issues candidates invoke are being tougher on foreign relations with China or continuing to stand as an ally with Israel.
“Joe Biden has allowed China to take advantage of us. It must end,” Jones, a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus in South Carolina, writes on his campaign website.
For Snow, a message of her campaign has been her want to set up a monthly town hall for her constituents to bring concerns or issues they want to address to her personally if she were to be elected. She says she hopes this would become such a normal thing that any other candidate after her would have to be expected to carry the townhome legacy as well.
“I want to give the government back to the hands of the people,” Snow said.
One thing about the 3rd district congressional race is that it has been relatively quiet and peaceful, absent of the familiar mudslinging some candidates use in other races.
Savannah Moss covers politics for Greenville News. Reach her at smoss@gannett.com or follow her on X @Savmoss.
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: 7 candidates crowd GOP primary for SC'S 3rd Congressional District
