Katie Arrington is still talking about the 2018 election as new Congress is sworn in
As South Carolina’s newest member of Congress was being sworn in today, his opponent from last November got a word in, too.
Former Republican state Rep. Katie Arrington tweeted that some of her neighbors in the coastal 1st District will be unrepresented under new U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham, who took his seat in the new U.S. House Thursday.
“Lowcountry neighbors who favor border security, unfortunately, your voice is not being represented in Congress today,” Arrington tweeted. “Not exactly #LowcountryOverParty, huh? #JoeCunningSham”
The 116th Congress was sworn in Thursday amidst an ongoing, partial government shutdown due to a dispute between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats over funding for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump has demanded $5 billion for a new border wall, while Democrats are only willing to pony up $1.2 billion for non-wall-related border security measures. There was no end to the dispute is in sight as Democrats assumed their new majority in the House Thursday.
Arrington unseated U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford in the June 2018 primary, but the first-term state legislator from Summerville lost to Charleston Democrat Cunningham in one of November’s more surprising upsets.
Cunningham is the first Democrat to represent the 1st District in 38 years.
He made some news of his own on his first day on the job. He was one of only 15 Democrats to cast a ballot against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Cunningham had promised to vote against Pelosi while campaigning in the Republican-leaning district.
Unlike his primary opponent, Sanford was more magnanimous in handing over the 1st District. He and Cunningham posed for a photo together after crossing paths Wednesday at the Charleston airport. Cunningham then tweeted the picture with the caption “Passing the torch.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 4:32 PM.
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