Summerville, S.C - Summerville News is an independent media company that's been covering stories in Summerville since 2018, because we saw a lack of detail and coverage from other local news organizations. Each election cycle since then we've put out endorsements of candidates based on who we believe represents good values, statesmanship, transparency, and effectiveness. This Tuesday June 14th is the Republican Primary election and we recommend the following candidates. Anyone who steps up to put themselves out there and put their name on the ballot has courage and bravery that should be admired. To view your sample ballot to see if you live in any of these districts click here:
Dorchester County Council District 1: Harriet Holman
Harriet made news when she switched parties earlier this year from Republican to Democrat which made many skeptical. She's always been a Conservative leaning Democrat while in office. She's a retired military veteran and has worked hard in Dorchester County to make sure our veterans have access to the benefits they deserve. Her opponent Wayne Reeves has billed himself as "the real Republican" on his signs. This is particularly humorous because like Harriet, he also served on County Council as a Democrat back in the 80s. To call himself the "real Republican" after he voted for an illegal tax increase as Councilman (see factsonwayne.com) is just dishonest to anyone looking at the race objectively. Wayne is also 80 years old running for a 4 year seat. He works as a homebuilder. We aren't opposed to capitalism and free markets, but having someone making decisions about zoning and development who stands to profit from it doesn't sit right with us. Harriet has inspired many of her friends to join her in the Republican Party. She is endorsed by the entire Dorchester County Council, DCRP Chairman Steven Wright, Senator Tim Scott, and many other Conservative Republicans. If Wayne was the real Republican, why are no Republican elected officials supporting him? This one is clear. Check to see if you live in Harriet's district which is the largest district in the County and be sure to vote for her June 14th.
State House 97: Robby Robbins
Robby Robbins is running in his third election of 2022. He recently defeated a well funded attempt by SC Democrats to flip District 97 which has been in Republican hands since Mandy Kimmons first took the seat back from Democrat Patsy Knight in 2018. Patsy had held this seat for 12 years before Mandy won it. The Chairman of the SC Democratic Party Trav Robertson treated Robby's recent special election as a targeted potential pick up race. Thousands of dollars outside of the district poured in to support Robby's Democrat opponent. Despite all of the support the Democrat had, Robby won handily by 18 percentage points. The race that was expected to be close wasn't close at all. Robby blew the doors off his opponent. All that to say he is facing a Republican Primary Challenger this Tuesday, and the winner will determine who goes on to face the Democrat in November. Robby has endorsements from Conservation Groups, Business Groups, the NRA and more. He's pro 2A, unapologetically Pro Life, believes in helping create a safe neighborhoods, and a business friendly environment to create jobs in his district. He's proven he can raise a war chest to defeat his opponents and has much more electability and a more solid resume that his Republican opponent this Tuesday. If you live in District 97, make sure to get out and vote for Robby Robbins!
State House 114: Lin Bennett
If you ask any Conservative Republican what are the most important pieces of Conservative legislation in the State House, Lin Bennett is probably a co-sponsor. Whether that's Constitutional Carry, the Fetal Heartbeat Protection Act (6 week abortion ban), Education Savings Accounts and the PACE Act (School Choice) Lin Bennett has been on the front lines. She also agrees with 70%+ of South Carolinians who believe we need a safe medical cannabis program in our State, and she doesn't shy away from sharing her position even if not all Republican Primary Voters are on board. We admire that courage and believe individuals should be granted access to medicine, and as long as individuals aren't hurting anyone they should be able to choose their medicine without the government getting in between them and their doctor. Lin's opponent supports higher taxes for more infrastructure. His campaign's central theme has been on a shallow approach to addressing obvious infrastructure problems. Much like Democrats approach on education, his only proposed solution is to throw more money at the problem. He criticizes Lin for her vote against the Gas Tax, which is the highest tax increase in State History and is set to go up again in July while South Carolinians are paying record high prices at the pump. The Gas Tax is seen by many as a failure and most of the money is still sitting in the bank in surplus and being spent on projects that weren't part of the original intent of the tax. The Nerve has followed this story since 2017 and does a much better job than us on getting into the SCDOT documents. We encourage you to give their latest article a read here on the subject if you're interested. Click here to check it out. Families can't afford another tax increase. We recommend supporting the limited government, common sense, education focused, Lin Bennett on June 14th. Her opponent isn't running to the right of her, so it'd make no sense to set Dorchester County back by putting a freshman legislator in the seat who would have far less influence and relationships than Lin. Lin's State House tenure would give her far more of a chance at bringing home infrastructure dollars to Dorchester County than a first year freshman. We encourage you to keep this Conservative Champion right where she's at. If you live in her District vote for her June 14th.
Commissioner of Agriculture: Hugh Weathers
Hugh Weathers has been a bright spot for South Carolina for years as Commissioner of Agriculture. He loves to remind people he's the only farmer on the ballot. He's worked to expand agribusiness in the State of South Carolina to $50 billion dollars a year. He also started the #CertifiedSC program to support local farmers. It focuses on buying local to reduce imports from other countries. Hugh doesn't have credible opposition this year and he's done so well at the job that he's definitely the right choice in this race.
SC State Superintendent of Education: Ellen Weaver
The Superintendent of Education race is crowded and will likely go to a runoff. The top two expected candidates to make the runoff in the Republican Primary Election are Ellen Weaver and Kathy Maness. Maness has introduced Kamala Harris at events, been personally invited to the White House to join President Biden, and has been vocally supported by Nancy Pelosi, and the Teachers Associations in South Carolina. Maness currently serves as a Lexington Councilwoman and was supportive of Covid restrictions during the pandemic. Ellen on the otherhand fought Covid restrictions while on the Education Oversight Committee. She has worked for Conservative stalwart Jim Demint, and has been fighting for school choice policy for a decade with her organization, the Palmetto Promise institute. While there are other candidates in the race, none seem to have the viability of Weaver or Maness. Travis Bedson put $500k of his own money into the race, however he started his campaign on the final day of election filling and never seemed to gain traction. Questions still loom about his past criminal history that we won't go into here. With a candidate like Maness who seems to be a Liberal running in a Republican Primary (much like current Supt Molly Spearman) it's important to get this race right. Some question that Ellen doesn't have the credentials to hold the office. A law in 2018 was passed in SC requiring the State Supt to have an advanced degree to hold office. Weaver is currently in progress on her Master's Degree and is set to finish by October. She rightly points out that if South Carolina's education crisis were going to be fixed by Masters degrees, it would have been fixed a long time ago. We agree. Other candidates seem to be trying to invoke fear by painting a scenario where she becomes the nominee but doesn't finish her degree in time giving the position over to the Democrats. This comes off as cheap fear mongering since Ellen is on track to achieve her Master's by October. Ellen is endorsed by the most respected Conservative names in South Carolina like Congressman Ralph Norman, Congressman Jeff Duncan, Business Owner John Warren, Dr Ben Carson, State Representative Josiah Magnuson, State Representative RJ May and many more. Ellen understands education policy because her organization has been writing and advocating for sound education policy for years. Ellen is the clear choice in this race to take down Maness, and we hope some of her detractors get on board with her once the runoff happens.
US House of Representatives District 1: Nancy Mace
We put out a piece on why we're supporting Mace that you can read in full here. Disagree with our position? Let us know why in the comments!
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