Meet US Sen. Lindsey Graham’s three Republican challengers in the June 9 primary

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R- Seneca, faces three Republicans on June 9. They are educator and attorney Duke Buckner of Walterboro, corporate executive and businessman Michael LaPierre of Pickens and Merchant Marine Joe Reynolds of North Charleston.

The State asked candidates to submit questionnaires. Here’s a look at who’s running and what they want voters to know, in their own words:

Duke Buckner

Age: 47

Education: B.A. English Education, South Carolina State University; J.D., Nova Southeastern University

Political experience: Walterboro City Council (2009-2013)

Professional experience: Taught 7th and 8th grade English at Colleton Middle School and 10th and 11th grade English at Walterboro High School; Editor, The Community Times-Dispatch weekly newspaper; Broker-in-Charge, Interstate Realty, Inc.; Member, Florida Bar (2007-present); Public Defender, Broward County, Florida; Member, S.C. Bar (2011-present); Buckner Law Firm, P.A. (2012-present)

Where did you grow up? Walterboro, S.C.

What do you think the U.S. Senate does well? As an institution, the United States Senate does well at making sure that all states regardless of population can have their views and opinions equally expressed and represented in Congress.

What do you think the U.S. Senate should do better? I believe the United States Senate should do better at limiting themselves to two terms in office and not allow money and special interests to negatively influence their decisions.

What are the top three issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them? I. Abortion — Abortion is the most important issue facing South Carolina that I will be addressing as U.S. Senator. ... I believe that life begins at conception. I also believe that children are a blessing from God, not a burden; they have a right to life. Thus to reduce the increasing number of abortions, I support that they be prohibited with no exceptions.

II. National Debt — Currently, the United States is estimated to be $19 trillion in debt. I believe the borrower is servant to the lender. Thus, in the spirit of President Andrew Jackson, I believe we can pay off our national debt within 10 years. To achieve this goal, I support 1) a balanced budget amendment 2) reduced government spending 3) eliminating all unnecessary foreign aid 4) end deficit spending 5) a line-item veto 6) stricter enforcement of businesses who are under reporting wages 7) auctioning off unneeded U.S. assets 8) designate that all budget surpluses, if any, each year go towards paying off the national debt.

III. Fatherhood Rights — Fathers play an important role in the development of their children. Research has shown that fathers who are positively involved in the life of their children help promote emotional stability and cognitive development. If a child is born out of wedlock in South Carolina, the father has no legal rights to that child. Therefore, I support joint custody and standard visitation rights be awarded to fathers who obey the law and are Court ordered to pay child support.

Tell us something important about you that you want voters to know? I am a born again believer of Jesus Christ.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham

Age: 64

Education: University of South Carolina, University of South Carolina School of Law

Political experience: South Carolina House of Representatives (1993-1995), U.S. House of Representatives (1995-2003), U.S. Senate (2003-Present)

Professional experience: U.S. Air Force JAG, private practice attorney

Where did you grow up? Central, S.C.

What are the top three issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?

1. The health of the people of South Carolina — First and foremost, it is critically important that we continue to be good neighbors and do the little things that help curb the spread of COVID-19. I supported the CARES Act which provided critical funding for personal protective equipment (PPE), hospitals, and medical workers. I will continue to work closely with the Trump administration to ensure the speedy discovery of therapeutics to lessen the severity of this virus and a vaccine to prevent further spread. I will also continue to fight to bring the medical supply chain back to the U.S. Whether it be important medicines or PPE, we can no longer be beholden to China for our own health and safety.

2. Economic recovery — Before the COVID-19 pandemic, South Carolina was experiencing historic economic growth and prosperity thanks to tax cuts and deregulation efforts championed by President Trump and the Republican Senate Majority. To combat the pandemic, we passed the CARES Act which provided stimulus checks to middle class Americans, forgivable loans for small businesses to pay rent and payroll, and expanded benefits to unemployed workers. As we restart our quarantined economy, we must do even more to support small businesses and hard-working American families through targeted relief and economic incentives that create jobs and restore communities.

3. Keeping America safe and prosperous — With such tremendous change taking place around us, we must keep our eyes open to the threats that do not cease with a public health emergency. It is critical we continue to rebuild our military and keep Americans safe from radical Islamic terrorists. A key ingredient to keeping America prosperous is rejecting socialism, which will cripple our economy, suffocate defense funding, and ruin any chance at a full recovery for our nation.

Tell us something important about you that you want voters to know?

I have been truly blessed to live the American Dream. I grew up in the back room of a bar, liquor store, and pool hall my parents operated in the small town of Central, S.C. My parents’ hard work helped me become the first in my family to attend college. When my parents both passed away 15 months apart, my younger sister, Darline, moved in with our aunt and uncle. I came home from school on the weekends to care for Darline and later legally adopted her. We were only able to get by because of the love and support of our family and friends. Following my time in college, I joined the U.S. Air Force, and my life again changed forever. I believe the experiences of my youth, coupled with my military and legislative experience, make me uniquely qualified to tackle the biggest issues facing our nation and help ensure the American Dream is alive and well for others like it was for me.

Michael La Pierre

Age: 59

Education: Ivy League - Brown University (Double Major - Political Science and Business), Clemson University MBA 4.0 GPA

Political experience: Trained Political Scientist and trained Global Strategist. I am a corporate executive (businessman) who has never run for public office. That is a distinct advantage.

Professional experience: Professional baseball player, farmer, entrepreneur, author, and corporate executive (A VP of Sales at a Fortune 500 company and a Global Strategist at a Fortune 50 company - $65 billion).

Where did you grow up? Born and raised in rural Maine

What do you think the U.S. Senate does well? I believe that the U.S Senate is generally known as a deliberative body with a slow, steady, and guiding hand for enacting policy that is good for all Americans.

What do you think the U.S. Senate should do better? First, the U.S. Senate needs to do a better job of protecting the virtue and religion that our Founding Fathers so eloquently wrote about. Our Constitution can only survive if a moral, virtuous, and religious people will bind their hearts in unison toward a common goal. Second, we must attack the corruption in our politics.

What are the top three issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?

1. Immigration

Securing our national borders is one of the primary cornerstones of a free and prosperous democratic republic. The United States of America should have a clearly defined geographical barrier of protection that preserves the freedoms and liberties of all Americans. I believe that an Almighty God has blessed us with a sovereign nation that I am pleased to call my country. As a beacon of light and a shining example of hope and prosperity, America is a hiding place and safe haven for those seeking to experience the totality of freedom through the process of entry appropriated and enforced by law. Laws of a porous nature will not stand the test of time. In other words, without the enforcement of our immigration laws, our country will soon cease to exist.

The following strategic guide is my recommendation for stopping the illegal flow of immigrants: 1. Congress needs to provide the funding necessary to build a wall. As your Senator, I will use all legislative means available to help provide and advocate for border security funding that includes a permanent and high-tech wall structure 2. The President has the authority to execute the laws of the land. Therefore, the 1 million plus known immigrants who have violated our immigration policies along with those unknown illegals subsequently identified must be deported. We must ratchet up deportation to send a message that illegal immigration will not be tolerated on our shores. 3. We need to expand the scope of the President’s legal national emergency powers with an increased military presence until our borders have been sealed. This proposed military presence will include those who have the specific skill sets to capture, detain, feed, house, process, deport and/or be caregivers. A progressive accumulation of forces should be used to stop the flow of illegal immigration. Once this objective has been achieved we will immediately draw down our presence commensurate with diminished illegal activity. 4. Additional economic pressure should equally be applied to those countries from where the illegal immigrants originate as well as our close friend and ally, Mexico. We must expect cooperation from our southern partners. A significant reduction in federal aid or an increase in import tariffs should be on the table for discussion and debate. 5. We must revamp the immigration and asylum laws on our books to stop chain migration, catch and release, faulty claims of “credible fear of persecution”, “anchor baby” extension and children immediately being turned over to Health and Human services and placed in the “least restrictive setting” that consequently lead to illegal behavior. The previous administration has created the enabling processes and laws that help illegal immigration flourish. 6. End the travesty of illegal immigrants receiving welfare, free education and other entitlements that encourage the unseemly and unlawful behavior. We are simply making it too easy for immigrants to break our laws. This must stop. 7. Cut off all federal funding for sanctuary cities who would circumvent federal laws that support legal immigration and provide a safe haven for those who break U.S. laws.

Enforcement, consent of the governed, alignment to God’s moral law and an abiding affection and faith toward the laws of the land by its citizenry will procure a most favorable and long-lasting result that will be highly esteemed by posterity. As a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in our beautiful state of South Carolina, I ask that you join me in letting our voices be heard on the illegal immigration front.

2. 2nd Amendment Gun Rights

Every citizen of the United States of America has the right, guaranteed by our Constitution, to legally carry a gun. This right extends to open carry, concealed carry and carry without a permit. This right is otherwise known as “Constitutional Carry.”

All attempts by the left to limit our gun rights in any way are back door efforts to control our guns. We must never let this happen. I consider gun ownership to be a foundational element in deterring those who would seek to encroach on the sacred Constitutional safeguards of pursuing life, liberty and the protection of our families. In other words, it protects us from dictatorship and tyranny. The Supreme Court of the United States of America in McDonald vs. Chicago ruled that the right of an individual to “keep and bear arms,” as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment against the states.

My position on 2nd Amendment issues:

• Oppose Red Flag laws which are aimed at controlling our guns
• Support the prosecution of felons who try to purchase guns illegally
• Support state reciprocity for concealed and/or Constitutional Carry
• Oppose banning large-capacity magazines and assault weapons
• Oppose all gun restrictions

The right to own guns is characteristic of what it has meant to be an American since the founding of our great nation. These rights should not be stripped away from us because of the actions of the few who choose unlawful behavior. The keeping and bearing of arms as prescribed by the Constitution is for the protection of the people from government tyranny and to safeguard our lives, land and families.

3. Economic Rebuild Plan

We need to trust that the American people will do the right things to keep our state and our country safe. I am a free American, free from the long and intrusive arm of government. President Trump is walking a tightrope between a triumvirate of key components critical to our individual freedoms and I think that he is doing an admirable job.

1) Civil liberties and freedoms

2) American safety

3) Robust economy

The triumvirate of key components critical to our individual freedoms must move in unison toward a desired end. The desired end that I am referring to is upholding and protecting the Constitution of the United States of America. If we do that, then we solve for each of the conditions listed above. I believe that my outline helps us move in that direction. It helps jump start our economy (with the necessary safeguards), rolls back and ends the State of Emergency declarations (choking our individual freedoms), while protecting the health and safety of all Americans (from the Coronavirus pandemic). Right now, we are seeing a battle like never before over the extremes in the three key components above. The extremes could do us great harm and further divide our country. Pragmatism and unity must rule the day! Please pray for our state and our country. Here are some specific steps for our economic rebuild plan:

1. We phase ALL industry sectors back to work beginning in May with the following adjustments/modifications
   1. Social distancing, hand washing, face masks (where appropriate), and clean surfaces in the workplace to be maintained
   2. Allow those who can work from home continue to do so
   3. Continue to isolate workplace “hot spots” around the country to minimize and mitigate negative health impacts
   4. Where possible, allow extended hours of operation to scatter the workflow and number of employees in confined areas at the same time
   5. Ask those who are at “high risk” (age, physical disabilities, and other health related issues) to sit out until later in the year (TBD)
2. We retool American industry here at home with a supply chain that is not reliant on Chinese imports
   1. Specific guidelines for pharmaceuticals and other healthcare necessities where an increased percentage must be manufactured in the USA
   2. Specific guidelines for national defense related commodities where an increased percentage must be manufactured in the USA
   3. We immediately end all contracts that allow China to steal and/or benchmark our intellectual property
   4. We demand reparations from China for the damage caused by the Coronavirus (if necessary, we freeze the available Chinese assets commensurate with the damage done to our economy)
3. President Trump gives guidance to our Governors to relax and roll back national emergency powers in the month of May
   1. Unwind the disastrous impact that the national emergency powers have had on our civil liberties
   2. Noncompliance will result in (up to and including) a loss of state funding/grants/assistance
4. President Trump supports an infrastructure bill that would put unemployed American workers back to work building roads, bridges, and other key infrastructure projects
   1. Long-term unemployment insurance would be tied to “work requirements” in this proposed bill
5. We seal our borders from ALL illegal aliens
   1. Increased military presence to maintain “zero tolerance”
6. President Trump gives guidance to allow public schools and universities to reopen in the fall of 2020
7. Social distancing, hand washing, face masks (where appropriate), and clean surfaces in the public domain to be maintained
8. Allow those who can educate from home continue to do so
9. Continue to isolate “hot spots” around the country to minimize and mitigate negative health impacts
10. Where possible, allow extended hours of operation to scatter the workflow and number of students/teachers in confined areas at the same time
11. Ask those who are at “high risk” (age, physical disabilities, and other health related issues) to take additional precautions for study/teaching

Tell us something important about you that you want voters to know? I am a businessman who has been afforded an opportunity to live a blessed life. Our Creator has seen fit to allow me to live a balanced lifestyle. Farming, professional athletics, corporate executive, entrepreneur, author, and Founder/President of Christian Leadership Worldview are just a few of the life experiences that will help me be an effective Senator.

Joe Reynolds

Age: 54

Education: B.S., U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 1987

Political experience: N/A

Professional experience: Chief Engineer, U.S. Merchant Marine

Where did you grow up? NH and MA, left for US Merchant Marine Academy at age 17.

What do you think the U.S. Senate does well? The Senate has a reputation as being the world’s greatest deliberative body. This may have been the case in the past, but now it is just 100 people wandering the halls asking what’s for lunch.

What do you think the U.S. Senate should do better? There is too much time on fundraising, too little time on debate. The power of majority/minority leaders needs to be re-evaluated. These positions aren’t in the Constitution. Each member gets one vote. The oath of office needs to be renewed; members should swear that, on leaving office, they will not use their status for financial gain. All new members should put their monies in a blind trust to avoid the Loeffler/Burr problems with trading. There are too many members who have been there too long. It is a political aristocracy. And aristocracies begin to decay, as we have seen the Senate decay. That is why I am personally pledging to serve only one term. I will not be thrust into the fundraising machine, I will not spend my time campaigning for myself or others. I will devote all my time to the people of South Carolina. 9) What are the top three issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?

Congress is a tool America uses to solve problems. But currently the tool is broken. I’m an engineer. I want to fix it. Without some reforms we will continue to get the gridlock and stagnation in Washington that we see. Americans are cynical, but they also deeply yearn for institutions to work. We will never address climate change, the national debt, immigration, health care if we do not reform now. There used to be a sense that we could compromise and both sides could work to help America. But that has been lost. After elections we used to get to work. Now we just prepare for the next election. My reforms begin to change that.

What are the top three issues in this campaign, and how specifically would you address them?

1. Money in Washington. I have two new ethics rules that address this. The first bans fundraising during the legislative work week. You are sent to Washington by your constituents to perform a job. That job is not to fundraise for yourself or your party. That job is to legislate, develop effective budgets, and work for America, not your personal political ambitions. The second ethics rule bans Senators from participating in fundraising activity in the District of Columbia. This will release Senators from these fundraising problems, and allow them room to work. I believe that’s what they want to do. And these rules will give them that freedom.

2. Oath of office. The current oath was last revised in 1966. It needs to be re-examined. I have an additional oath of office which I will swear to after the first. I will not use my position for financial gain. There will be no lobbying positions, no consultancies, no think tanks. I will not serve on a corporate board for money. I will not speak for money. The position of Senator of the United States should be about service, not ambition.

3. Constitutional term limit amendment for US Senate. Previous amendments have gotten stuck because they have concentrated on both bodies. My amendment is for only the Senate, two terms. The reason I did this is because House members would vote overwhelmingly for such an amendment, as most have aspirations of becoming a Senator. The remaining members would have to be grandfathered in, but I believe if it passed the House it could be passed in the Senate with some public pressure and political leadership.

Tell us something important about you that you want voters to know?

I’ve been going to sea for over thirty years. During that time I’ve been through hurricanes, icebergs, pirates and war zones. I’ve brought Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters for our troops in Iraq during OIF and mine resistant vehicles for our Marines in Afghanistan. As Chief Engineer of a ship at sea, if we have trouble I do not have the luxury of saying maybe next year we’ll get to it. We have to get to it right away or we sink. That’s the kind of leadership I’ll bring to Congress. I will take responsibility for our problems on Day 1. I will not blame others. Leaders lead. That’s the kind of drive and urgency we need in Washington.

I also believe the GOP should be reaching out to citizens, not pushing them away. Our actions are heard by LGBTQ, minority and immigrant communities, young people. It’s time we had leaders who were inclusive. This means not joining lawsuits to discriminate against gay people, not joining lawsuits to remove protections for people with pre-existing conditions. This means saying out loud that climate change is real and we are going to address it, that we care about conservation in the way we vote. This means not vilifying immigrants, but trying to reform our system with sincerity and dignity. It means that a young black person should never be the victim of armed white men wandering the street.

There is a motto of the US Merchant Marine Academy: Acta non Verba. Deeds, not words.

This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 8:30 AM.