SC congressional candidate has a surprise meeting with President Trump
The S.C. congressional candidate who received a last-minute endorsement from Donald Trump in June got a chance to sit down with the president last week in Washington, D.C.
Katie Arrington, the Republican nominee in South Carolina’s 1st District, tweeted an official White House photo Tuesday of her sitting down with the president.
”@realDonaldTrump - Thank you for taking the time to meet last week, discussing our beloved Lowcountry of South Carolina, and signing the cast!” Arrington said in the tweet.
Arrington can be seen sporting a cast in the photo after she survived a car wreck in June just days after the GOP primary in which she defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford. That wreck sent Arrington and another person to the hospital and killed the driver of the other vehicle.
Trump tweeted his support of Arrington just hours before polls closed in the June 12 GOP primary. Arrington, a first-term S.C. House member, went on to defeat Sanford in an upset.
Arrington is also one of 100 Republican candidates around the county who has been selected to get the maximum contribution allowed — $2,000 — from Trump’s campaign account, according to a list obtained by McClatchy.
Arrington’s campaign told the Post and Courier of Charleston the meeting happened on July 25 during a trip to Washington to meet with the Republican National Committee. Arrington and the president discussed infrastructure, tax cuts and job creation for about 20 minutes, campaign consultant Andrew Boucher said.
Speaking to MSNBC four days after the meeting with Trump, Arrington had a Trump-like response to questions about Russian election meddling. Arrington told interviewer Kasie Hunt, “I think China was way worse than anything that Russia could have (done) or did.”
Trump long has disputed the role Russia played in the 2016 election, even after U.S. intelligence agencies identified Russian efforts to interfere with that election.
Arrington, R-Summerville, faces Democrat Joe Cunningham of Charleston in the November general election.
This story was originally published August 1, 2018 at 7:55 AM.