This just in:
Brad Hutto announces run for U.S. Senate
“Washington, D.C. is broken – and it is time for new leadership in Washington, our current leaders have become part of the problem,” says Hutto
Orangeburg lawyer and State Senator Brad Hutto announced that he has filed to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Lindsay Graham. Hutto, a Democrat, represents parts of Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties in the state legislature.
In announcing his candidacy, Hutto set his sights on Congressional gridlock. “Washington is broken, and we need someone from outside of the Beltway to help improve life for South Carolinians. We send billions of tax dollars to D.C. every year yet we have crumbling roads, failing schools, and struggling rural communities to show for it. And both sides are to blame.”
While serving in the State Senate, Hutto received a 100% rating from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce for his pro-business record. In the Senate, Hutto often leads the fight to improve schools, promote renewable energy options, and protect our natural resources. Hutto is often in the forefront of causes to insure the individual rights and liberties of all. He is known for his commitment to children and is an active member of the South Carolina Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children.
“We need a leader in the Senate who will spend more time talking to folks in Barnwell, Bishopville, and Beaufort than appearing on Sunday morning talk shows. I will focus on job creation with special emphasis on rural South Carolina,” said Hutto. “We need to require our overseas allies to accept a larger role in their own security so that we can start refocusing attention on rebuilding roads and schools in our own country.”
Recent polling highlights Graham’s vulnerability, with polls consistently showing that even Republican primary voters – where he should be strongest – have reservations about his extended tenure in D.C.
Hutto lives in Orangeburg with his wife of 28 years, Tracy, a pediatrician. His son Skyler is a student at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. Hutto graduated from the Honors College at the University of South Carolina and received his law degree from Georgetown University. Hutto, an Eagle Scout, is a Past President of the Boy Scouts’ Indian Waters Council that serves South Carolina’s midlands region, and he remains active with Scouting on many levels.
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My first thought in reading the headline was, OK, so maybe Tim Scott will have some opposition in the general.
Then I saw that he’s running for Graham’s seat. Which doesn’t make sense. He cites this as his reasoning:
Recent polling highlights Graham’s vulnerability, with polls consistently showing that even Republican primary voters – where he should be strongest – have reservations about his extended tenure in D.C.
Which is just kind of inside-out partisan thinking. Yes, Hutto is one of the more enthusiastic partisans on the Democratic side in the Legislature. But it really takes a particularly simplistic, dualistic view of the politcal world to say, “even Republicans… have reservations” about Graham. “Even” Republicans? Republicans are the people Graham has trouble with. Not Democrats, particularly. Certainly not independents. Assuming Graham can secure his renomination — and he most likely will, after some discomfort — he’s going to blow past anyone who opposes him in the general as though that hapless individual is standing still.
Is this not obvious to everyone?
Why is everybody and his brother lining up to run against Graham — “even” Democrats? While Scott gets a relative free ride, in terms of not having anyone opposing him likely to make him break a sweat.
It’s weird…