Tag: Jay Jordan

Richardson Profile Grows, Allen Exits 7th Congressional District Race

Four and one-half months to go until Republican Primary voting for the SC 7th Congressional District nomination and things are starting to heat up.
Ken Richardson, Horry County School Board Chairman and Congressional challenger to incumbent Tom Rice, made a big splash this week with the Make America Great Again supporters in an op-ed Richardson wrote challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election and support for true election integrity. Richardson’s article was a featured piece on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast.
Because of his fundraising, continuous trips to speak throughout the 7th District and growing national attention, Richardson’s candidate profile continues to grow.
Richardson only began serious fundraising activities last week. As he said last week, if the race is going to be decided by money alone, he would just write a check. He put his money where his mouth is by loaning $500,000 to his campaign fund. In addition, Richardson raised approximately $200,000 last year and spent approximately $150,000 of that amount on various campaign expenses.
His campaign account currently boasts $557,030.08 with checks beginning to roll in from the over $200,000 in donation pledges Richardson solicited in the last two weeks.
Graham Allen, a conservative activist and media personality, who never lived in the 7th Congressional District, decided to suspend his campaign and concentrate on his nationwide appeal as a media personality.
Allen said he is currently working on forthcoming projects and issue advocacy with his media company and will continue to spread “a message of freedom, personal liberty and America First conservatism across the country…”

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Jay Jordan Another ‘Good Ol’ Boy’ in State Senate Bid

The special Republican Primary for state Senate District 31 next Tuesday presents a classic ‘good ol’ boy’ versus outsider matchup between current House member Jay Jordan and businessman Mike Reichenbach.
It will be a test of how dedicated Republican voters are to see change in the way politics are conducted in South Carolina.
House incumbent Jordan has Starboard Communications, the political consulting firm of Walter Whetsell, running his campaign, which should be a red flag for voters who want change. Whetsell is the consultant for Congressman Tom Rice and is closely tied to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and its Interstate 73 project.
Another interesting fact is how the South Carolina Association for Justice (SCAJ) has provided maximum contributions to the Jordan campaign. SCAJ has its own named political action committee, SCAJ PAC, which gave the maximum to Jordan. Then, there are 10 more associated PACs, Justice PACs 1-10, all of which have the same address as the SCAJ PAC and each of these supposedly individual PACs gave maximum contributions to the Jordan campaign on the same day – December 6, 2021, according to Jordan’s campaign disclosure filings.
Eleven supposedly individual PACs, all with the same address as the South Carolina Association for Justice PAC, appears on the surface to be an attempt by an association of lawyers to circumvent the state’s campaign finance law.
Supposedly independent PACs with the same address have been funded by the Grand Strand Business Alliance, which is funded by the Chamber, to support Chamber candidates in the past. It may be technically legal but it doesn’t pass the smell test.
It should be noted these lawyer PACs provided the same type of support to Horry County Sen. Luke Rankin in his 2020 reelection campaign. That campaign and its internal associations are now the subject of a lawsuit by Rankin opponent John Gallman.

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Depressed Voter Turnout is Primary Story

Depressed Voter Turnout is Primary Story

South Carolina held elections Tuesday and almost nobody bothered to show up. Voter turnout, or lack of it, was the story of Tuesday’s primary elections. Less than 10 percent (9.88%) of registered voters statewide bothered to come to the polls.

Low turnout was expected as continuing stories of candidates being struck from the ballot over the last two months dominated the news, but, under 10 percent is horrible. The old Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union had more voter excitement in the past than this election generated.

Even Horry County with the new 7th Congressional District, four contested House races and one contested Senate race to vote for barely broke through the 10 percent voter turnout threshold.

In the new 7th Congressional District, Gloria Bromell Tinubu may have avoided a runoff and won the Democratic nomination outright after nearly 8,000 votes for Ted Vick were tossed out of the ballot count. Vick dropped out of the race two weeks ago when he was arrested for DUI and weapons possession in Columbia.

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Republican Debate Turns Into Brawl

MB Republican Debate Disaster

The rough and tumble nature of Horry County politics was on display for all to see Thursday night at the debate for 7th Congressional Republican candidates.

Sponsored by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Grand Strand Business Alliance, WMBF-TV and WPDE-TV, the debate turned into a shouting match when five of the candidates felt they were being ignored by the questioning media panel.

The candidates were apparently split into two groups by some entity controlling the questions. The top four polling candidates, Andre Bauer, Chad Prosser, Tom Rice and Jay Jordan, received the bulk of the questions during the first hour of the debate while the remaining five, Randal Wallace, Katherine Jenrette, Jim Mader, Renee Culler and Dick Withington, were virtually ignored.

After the apparent questioning trend was set in the first half hour of the debate, Wallace cut in to complain, “I filed to run for Congress and I’d like to answer a question.”

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Brittain Gains Important Endorsements

Seventh Congressional District Democratic candidate Preston Brittain gained five major endorsements yesterday, pushing him to the front of the field of four contesting the upcoming June 12th primary for the new U.S. House seat.

Congressman Jim Clyburn, former Congressman John Spratt, former Governor Jim Hodges, and state Senators John Land and Vincent Sheheen announced their support for Brittain’s candidacy through a conference call Tuesday.

Each candidate praised Brittain’s understanding of the needs of the entire district as well as his desire to bring the Interstate 73 project to fruition.

The endorsements by five of the most important and recognizable Democrats in the state appear to make Brittain the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

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Florence’s Jordan tops poll at 7th CD Debate

A crowd of more than 500 piled into the West Florence High School auditorium Monday night to hear what the Republicans seeking their party’s nomination for the 7th Congressional District race had to say – and to cast some of the first votes in that contentious race.

The event’s unique forum, which was driven at least in part by the fact that the race in the brand new district has attracted so many candidates (9 Republicans, 5 Democrats), called for 45 minutes of debate followed by a straw vote to select five candidates for 45 minutes of debate. A final, post-debate poll was supposed to reveal how the crowd felt after hearing both halves of the show.

Apparently it was feeling pretty pro-Pee Dee.

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Wallace Continues Rise in 7th District Polls

Myrtle Beach city councilman Randal Wallace has become the “little engine that could” among Republican candidates for the 7th Congressional District nomination.

Although he trails significantly in money raising, normally the “mother’s milk” of politics, Wallace has been polling respectably among the more, supposedly, high flying candidates in the race – Andre Bauer, Chad Prosser, Jay Jordan and Tom Rice.

A personable individual, effective speaker with a good grasp of issues and an extremely hard working campaigner, Wallace’s personal attributes seem to be leveling the playing field somewhat with his better funded opponents.

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County Council Curse?

Former Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill learned his famous political maxim “all politics is local” in his first campaign (and only loss) for elective office.

The concept is that politicians are successful when they concentrate on the everyday concerns of their local voters and that most people who vote are focused on local concerns.

The validity of O’Neill’s maxim seems to be playing itself out, at least in a negative sense, in the contest for the Republican nomination for the new 7th Congressional District seat.

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SC 7th CD candidates meet and greet

LITCHFIELD, SC – The nine Republican candidates running for the new 7th Congressional seat in South Carolina took part in a meet and greet with voters Thursday in Georgetown County.

The event took about three hours because of the amount of candidates. Each campaign set up a table in the lobby of the Tara Theater at Litchfield Beach Resort.

During that time the candidates took questions from voters. Then in a more formal portion of the event, each candidate took to the stage for ten minutes.

First up was former SC Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer. Bauer called the campaign a job interview and said that he hopes to be the voice of the 7th district in Washington.

Bauer said he will make tough decisions to create jobs and cut waste in Congress.

Retired businessman and Surfside resident Dick Withington spoke next. He brought props on to the stage including a sword to illustrate his military experience and a whip to show his displeasure with what some congressmen are doing.

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