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PAWLEYS ISLAND, SC – Republican Rep. Tom Rice says his vote to oust then-President Donald Trump “was the Conservative vote.”
“I told you I was going to protect the Constitution. I wanted to say what I said, and I kept my oath, even when it’s hard,” the five-term representative in the 7th District of Congress in South Carolina told the polite applause of the supporters gathered at Hog. Heaven Barbeque on Pawleys Island on the eve of the state primaries.
Rice was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to oust Trump on charges of fueling the January 6, 2021 deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists and other Trump supporters. the goal of disrupting Congress certification of President Biden’s election. University victory in the 2020 elections.
Go a year and a half ahead and Rice faces half a dozen major challenges, including one from state lawmaker Russell Fry, who enjoys Trump’s support.
“Republicans are supposed to protect the Constitution. We take an oath to protect the Constitution, not a man,” Rice said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “And so what I did was vote for a Conservative. If you want a Conservative, it’s me.”
Fry, speaking to Fox News at the headquarters of his Myrtle Beach campaign, said he would not challenge Rice if the congressman had not voted in favor of impeachment.
“I think impeachment is the big elephant in the room and voters are incredibly frustrated about it,” he said.
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Six of the 10 House Republicans who will vote to oust Trump are running for re-election, and Rice is the first to face a rival backed by the former president. Trump, who has been retired from the White House for almost a year and a half, continues to have immense dominance over the GOP. And while his backed candidates have been very successful in Republican primaries this year for open seats, he has yet to overthrow a incumbent. All of that adds up to betting on Tuesday’s primaries.
The district, which covers the northeast corner of South Carolina and includes the Myrtle Beach metropolitan area, known as Grand Strand, and the inland Pee Dee region, is Trump’s country. He won the district by 19 points in his 2016 presidential election victory and 18 points in the 2020 defeat. Rice has won the district by double digits in each of his five congressional victories, even by nearly 24 points just two years ago.
Rice noted, “I have a very conservative voting record. I voted with Donald Trump 95% of the time, more than anyone in the South Carolina delegation until the impeachment vote.”
“I think I’m a lot more aligned with Republicans in this district in terms of what their views are,” he said. “The issue for them is the vote of dismissal.”
He argued that “Trump’s aura is wearing down a bit” and that the former president “absolutely shouldn’t be” the GOP leader in the future.
Rice is a step back from the kind of Republicans who dominated the party before Trump’s rise.
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The congressman, who has the backing of organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business and the NRA, told his supporters gathered at Hog Heaven that when he first appeared in Congress in 2012, “I told you I was going to. Work on three things: jobs, jobs, jobs.”
He went on to say that “unemployment in my term in this district has dropped by 75%. Poverty has dropped by 30%.” He emphasized: “I really need your help to push me across the line.”
He highlighted his work on the far-reaching Committee on Media and Means of the Fiscal Chamber, as well as his part in drafting the 2017 fiscal review and the revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Rep. Tom Rice speaks to supporters at Hog Heaven in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, on June 13, 2022. (Fox News)
“I have given for you. I have given lower taxes for working families and small businesses. I have given higher jobs and wages and less poverty. I have given for tourism, farmers and flood victims. hundreds of millions for schools, broadband, new roads and more, “Rice said in a television ad in the last days of the elementary campaign. “We put progress above meanness. We put results above revenge.”
Expressing his displeasure with the transformation of his party under Trump, Rice told Fox News that “we tend to tell ourselves … Republicans in the Chamber of Commerce. Now they’re afraid to do it. That’s kind of proof. “I guess I’m a Republican in the Chamber of Commerce because I want everyone to have a chance.”
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Fry says the former president “continues to prove that he is the leader of our party.”
And he said Trump’s endorsement of his campaign was “huge. We’ve been doing well, with a good trend, for a long time. After that endorsement, the lights have gone out. . It’s incredible”.
Trump held a rally in South Carolina in late March for Fry and former state Rep. Katie Arrington, whom Trump supports as he challenges Republican Rep. Nancy Mace to the first district of Congress primaries. Last Tuesday, the former president held a tele-rally for both candidates. Trump clips of the rally in person stating that “Russell is a Conservative warrior who will not give a quarter to the Socialist Left” headline Fry’s campaign announcement.
Rice pointed to Fry, accusing him of “the only thing he can promote is that Donald Trump has supported him. That’s the only thing he has to follow. I don’t think Donald Trump’s crack investigation team did “Enough work with him before.
Fry responded, arguing that “Rice has been trying to discredit our record for months. What we have a record for is leading South Carolina while he has failed.” He also stated that voters feel that Rice “is not paying attention to the needs and desires of the people.”
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With a field full of candidates, no candidate is likely to exceed 50% and Rice and Fry are likely to face off again in a runoff election in two weeks.
When asked if he expects Trump to return to South Carolina if there is a second round, Fry responded quickly: “We will collect any help from the president that he is willing to give.”
Paul Steinhauser is a New Hampshire-based political journalist.