Does Russell Fry believe the 2020 election was stolen? He won’t say

In blue jeans and a fleece to guard against the biting winds, Russell Fry stood inside a tent at the Florence Regional Airport on Saturday, nodding in agreement several times as Mike Lindell continued to insist the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

The MyPillow founder, who’s become a hard right GOP rock star over the last two years, was clear about what it took to win his endorsement.

“It’s very easy to do,” Lindell said. “It’s, ‘do you think the election was stolen. If you say, ‘yes,’ you’re in.”

Fry - a 37-year-old Myrtle Beach attorney looking to topple U.S. Rep. Tom Rice in the 7th Congressional District’s June 14 primary - has never spoken in depth about his feelings on the 2020 election. But he did call Lindell a “patriot” shortly after the impromptu mini-rally under his campaign tent.

“I don’t recall ever talking to Russell about that,” state Rep. Micah Caskey, R-West Columbia, told The Sun News on Monday. Caskey is among more than a dozen sitting lawmakers who have contributed to Fry’s campaign. “Russell will have to answer that one.”

He did, albeit briefly, at a Feb. 1 press conference where he announced that Trump was supporting him.

“People gripe all the time that Washington isn’t listening, but (to) states like Florida, states like South Carolina, they’re listening. They understand that election integrity is important,” Fry said at the time.

Philip Habib, Fry’s campaign manager, declined Monday to answer specific questions about Fry’s beliefs about the 2020 election and Jan. 6 Capitol Building breach by Trump supporters.

Instead, he referred The Sun News to a February video Fry posted on Facebook in which the candidate said the 2020 election was “rigged.”

Fry’s campaign website touts his work in Columbia on pushing for closed primaries and requiring identification for absentee voting.

Fry, a Statehouse member since 2016, has a portion of his campaign website devoted to election integrity.

“Under the guise of COVID protocols, Americans across the country witnessed serious voting irregularities during the 2020 elections — ballot harvesting and judicial overreach to name just a few,” his website states. “Now, Nancy Pelosi and her allies are trying to federalize elections and implement policies which would ruin the integrity of our elections.”

A number of investigations have found no evidence of widespread fraud or voting irregularities in the 2020 election.

Rice has stayed away from conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

At a town hall event in Conway last summer, he described the presidential election as having “absolutely proven problems” but stated explicitly that Biden had won.

“The election is over and Joe Biden won. Period. That’s it,” he said in June.

As Rice has sought re-election, he’s drawn a distinction between supporting Trump’s policies and supporting the man himself.

He’s made the case that he’s been an effective legislator who doesn’t need to engage in conspiracy theories.

Rice has since been critical of Fry for his allegiance to Trump.

Rice has said he’s outspoken about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 , “to give (voters) a little contrast of the effectiveness versus bluster.

Of his time in Washington, Rice said, “I feel like we’ve affected people’s lives. I think they know that, I think they see that, and I’m going to remind them of it.”

In more than 1,700 votes in the General Assembly since the 2019-20 session, Fry has been a reliable conservative, signing on to legislation to outlaw abortion, protect gun owners, and ban vaccine mandates - all pillars of the national GOP agenda.

Caskey said that track record is why he bristles when Fry’s critics call him a RINO, a “Republican in Name Only.” or RINO.

Fry’s position on the election won’t change his track record, Caskey said.

“I’ve known Russell for the last five years and I’ve never doubted his commitment to conservative causes,” Caskey said.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford of Columbia said he’s not heard Fry or any other legislator publicly call into question the integrity of the 2020 election.

“I stay away from people that live in fantasy land,” Rutherford told The Sun News. “I’m not saying he (Fry) does because I’ve not talked to him about it.

Rutherford called the contention that the 2020 election was stolen ... “the most asinine of comments that anyone can say. Especially people that pretend to be intelligent.”

Incumbent Rice is persona non grata in the GOP’s Trump wing because he voted - with nine other Republicans - to impeach the president for his role in the Jan. 6 riot. That vote launched his primary contest onto a national stage.

In a statement following Saturday’s Trump-headlined “Save America Rally,” where Rice was painted as an inept traitor (“Fry the Rice” was a popular slogan there), Rice hit back.

“Trump is here because, like no one else I’ve ever met, he is consumed by spite,” Rice said. in this remarks Saturday night. “I took one vote he didn’t like and now he’s chosen to support a yes man candidate who has and will bow to anything he says, no matter what.”

The next day, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who also voted to impeach Trump, defended Rice.

“Our country needs Republicans to be sane, responsible and speak the truth,” she said in a March 13 tweet that’s pulled in more than 15,000 likes.

“Tom Rice is right,” the tweet said. “Most of our Republican colleagues know this. Their silence enables the danger.”

Habib disagrees.

“We have plenty of endorsements from elected Republicans in the 7th Congressional District,” he said, “unlike Tom Rice, who has to go to Wyoming to find his,” he said.

This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Does Russell Fry believe the 2020 election was stolen? He won’t say."