South Carolina’s First District Candidates Join Coalition to Reduce Spending

With the special election in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District just one week away, the Coalition to Reduce Spending has announced that 15 of the field of 19 candidates from two parties in the field have pledged to Reject the Debt.

The Reject the Debt pledge asks candidates to go on record that they will consider all spending open for reduction, vote only for budgets that present a path to balance, and vote against any appropriations bills that increase total spending or fund new programs without offsetting cuts in others.

Republicans Larry Grooms, Chip Limehouse, Ray Nash, Keith Blanford, Shawn Pinkston, Mark Sanford, Elizabeth Moffly, Andy Patrick, Ric Bryant, Jeff King, Peter McCoy, Teddy Turner, Jonathan Hoffman, John Kuhn, and Democrat Ben Frasier have all signed this on-the-record promise.

Tim Larkin, Curtis Bostic, Eugene Platt, and Elizabeth Colbert-Busch have yet to sign.

In response to the news, Coalition President Jonathan Bydlak released the following comment:

In a time when the national debt and spending issues are at the forefront of the national debate and certainly that of South Carolina’s 1st District, nearly every candidate has made spending a key plank and promised to take steps to reduce out-of-control federal debt.          

But election promises are notorious for being as temporary as the elections that produce them. This race offers a chance for voters to buck that trend.          

Reject the Debt is a reasonable pledge for unreasonable times — a litmus test for whether a politician will stand up to the profligate status quo. The positive response from the vast majority of candidates shows that a culture of fiscal sanity permeates deep into the state’s citizenry.   

The Coalition to Reduce Spending is a non-partisan advocacy organization dedicated to reducing federal spending. For more information please visit www.reducespending.org