But we can send the right person to represent South Carolina.
When Senator Lindsey Graham passed, he left a position of power and leadership we cannot fill. He was a committee chair and a senior member of the Senate and the Republican Party. He brought a disproportionate amount of money back to South Carolina. His influence was outsized and we cannot get it back.
In this race, we will all be junior senators when elected. None of us has seniority or experience. None of us has ever been a Senator before.
But we are not the same.
With the Republican nominee yet to be decided, we don’t really know what we’ll get. We may have the sister of the late Senator who has been on the periphery of a 30-year career. She may get his campaign war chest but she won’t get his committee chairmanships. We may get a Congressman jumping from the House of Representatives. One of them left the House to run for Governor, one is still running for the House as if “elect me somewhere” is a strategy and not just political greed. We might get a former congressman-turned governor, a political veteran. Or, we may get someone who has never held public office.
And if you’re a voter who doesn’t like career politicians, you want the last option. The slate of candidates you want come November 3rd is three newbies.
All of the Republicans have financing. They all have campaign committees that have raised money. They all have interest groups and the backing of the national party when they win. And the Democratic nominee also has financing: fundraising and the interest groups and the backing of her national party.
I have by far the smallest war chest, and determined but meager fundraising. Our national party is re-posting all of my social content, so there’s that. No special interest groups. No major benefactors or foreign governments supporting me. Just a few thousand dollars and some dedicated volunteers.
And if you’re a voter who doesn’t like money buying elections, then you should want my campaign. A shoestring budget, a start-up mentality, and no paid operatives from the political class.
The establishment parties are corporations that generate an incredible amount of revenue. The Republican Party holds about $850 million in cash reserves. The Democrats are in worse shape, but they managed to raise for Jaime Harrison and they’ll raise this time, too. The money comes from high net-worth donors, corporate-backed sector contributions (think of interest group lobbies that protect industries like airlines and railroads), and Political Action Committees (PACs). They have a network of grassroots donors and depending on the level of office, they may rely heavily on their ability to advertise to that network to generate revenue.
All those instagram reels asking for donations? All those Facebook posts, emails, and text messages? That’s leveraging the grassroots network to generate revenue.
Candidates become panhandlers asking for whatever you can spare to save the country from their opponents by electing them instead. Vote with your dollars. Give to the campaign.
And campaign finance reform, the crown jewel of John McCain’s political career, tried to reduce the amount of money spent in elections by limiting how much so-called “dark money” could come in. But it didn’t work for long. Citizens United v. FEC decided in the United States Supreme Court that political campaign donations are protected by free speech and enabled unlimited spending by corporations on political campaigns.
We now have a pattern of the most expensive elections in history. See my blog “It shouldn’t take $30M” for more on how that money is spent.
That money isn’t charity. It’s not even an ideological, “go get ‘em!” It’s buying the party’s loyalty to the causes the donor cares about. And the loyalty of every candidate the party funds.
If you are a voter who doesn’t want special interest groups influencing your representatives, you should support this campaign. As noted in this blog, I only interviewed with one group and they rejected me. No others have bothered with me.
It’s easy to blame the corporations. Blame them for spending money on buying influence. For asking, in return for campaign contributions, that elected officials raise the barriers to entry in their industries and stifle competition. For getting lucrative government contracts and the power of US Diplomacy and the US Military to enter foreign markets. It’s easy to blame the corporations. But they’re just doing what companies do: looking for strategic advantages to help their stakeholders. And we, as the communities they’re in, the customers they serve, and their employees and stockholders, are the corporations’ stakeholders.
Except for two. Two corporations, the most corrupt in the nation, don’t consider us stakeholders at all. We are not their customers, not their shareholders, we’re barely even their suppliers. Although it’s our votes they need to make their product work.
The Republicans and Democrats are the most corrupt corporations in our nation. And they’re the ones running it.
So if you’re a voter who is sick of watching the duopoly go Toonces the Driving Cat off the fiscal cliff with their reckless spending…
If you’re a voter who is sick of the dirtiest, scummiest people in your community getting elected…
If you’re a voter who is sick of the fighting, the bickering, the rage baiting and the culture wars …
Then you should be supporting this campaign.
I’m not for sale. And I’m in this to govern, not to get rich, not to peddle influence, and not to do what the parties tell me to do.
On November 3rd, South Carolina will send a new Senator to Washington, D.C. and no matter who we pick, that person will not have the experience or the seniority that Lindsey Graham had.
Whomever walks in as the new Senator from South Carolina will be starting from zero. No committee assignments, no leadership roles, no leverage whatsoever.
But we are not the same.
The Democrat and the Republican will owe. They will owe money and fealty to the parties and special interests that got them elected.
Not me. I won’t owe anything to anyone except the people of South Carolina. And I will serve you faithfully. I will make you proud.
We need one million votes and every vote counts.
And if the parties want my vote, they’ll have to do right by you. That is my promise. People not party. South Carolina first.
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