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Scandal-scarred U.S. congressman William Timmons will face off against South Carolina Freedom Caucus chairman Adam Morgan – his Republican rival for the Palmetto State’s fourth congressional district seat – at a candidate forum in Greenville later this month.
Timmons and Morgan are scheduled to meet at high noon (a.k.a. 12:00 p.m. EDT) at the Poinsett Club in downtown Greenville, S.C. on Monday, April 29, 2024, according to a news release from the Greenville County Republican Women, the organization hosting the event.
The event is being billed as the “first joint appearance by the two candidates” seeking the seat Timmons has held since January 2019. According to organizers, questions will be submitted by members of the organization to both candidates who will then “be given an opportunity to address issues of importance to Republicans in the area.”
“This is a terrific opportunity for Upstate voters to see the candidates side-by-side and hear their views on the issues that will help set the course of our country for generations,” the group’s president Robin Duffie said in a statement announcing the forum. “We are grateful they have agreed to this very important forum.”
Timmons, 39, hails from a fifth-generation, über-wealthy, über-influential family in Greenville, S.C. His great-grandfather – William R. Timmons Sr. – built an empire in the Upstate beginning in the mid-1920s, focusing on the real estate, trucking and insurance industries. The family – which helped establish the city’s civic and philanthropic communities – is reportedly worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
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That money hasn’t bought class, however. As our readers are well aware, Timmons is still recovering from his ‘Days of our Congressman’ saga – a self-induced implosion in his personal life that spit out damaging headlines for months on end. Things have gotten so bad for him he’s been forced to use tax money in an effort to boost his tattered image as he faces a credible challenge from Morgan.
More drama could be headed Timmons way, too. Over the weekend, our media outlet reported on an investigation into a recent incident involving Timmons at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport (GSP) earlier this month.
“Details are hazy but initial reports point to some sort of confrontation as Timmons was attempting to board a flight to Washington, D.C.,” our report noted.
We have sent a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) seeking information related to the alleged confrontation – including “any surveillance footage” of the incident.
Morgan, meanwhile, has been garnering support from conservatives across the nation in his bid to oust the third-term incumbent. A music executive from Taylors, S.C., Morgan was born in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Bob Jones University in 2011 and received his law degree from the University of South Carolina in 2015. The 35-year-old, married father of three has represented S.C. House District 20 in Greenville County since November 2018.
Partisan primary elections in South Carolina are scheduled for June 11, 2024 – with the winner of the GOP primary in this district all but assured of triumphing in the November 2024 general election. In the last race for this seat, Timmons limped to an unimpressive primary win over a trio of comparatively unknown challengers in the 2022 GOP primary. Even with the endorsement of former U.S. president Donald Trump, the prosecutor-turned-politician received just 52.69 percent of the primary vote.
Count on this media outlet to keep our audience in the loop on the latest developments in this race, including any breaking news from the upcoming candidate forum …
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina and before that he was a bass guitarist and dive bar bouncer. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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1 comment
I hate that the political environment has gotten such that we have to pick from candidates that are unlike the average South Carolinian to represent our interests. In this case, voters can choose from one of the Greenville elites or an imported BJU grad. Neither of their frames of reference would be similar to the ordinary voter. To quote Naughty by Nature, “if you ain’t live it, you couldn’t feel it.”