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by ERIN PARROTT
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A new Republican challenger has emerged against U.S. congressman William Timmons – who narrowly held on to his office in 2024 after being credibly challenged by former S.C. Freedom Caucus leader Adam Morgan.
Buoyed by an endorsement from U.S. president Donald Trump, Timmons received 36,533 votes (or 51.6% of all ballots cast) compared to Morgan’s 34,269 votes (or 48.4% of all ballots cast) in the June 2024 primary election. He proceeded to trounce Democrat Kathryn Harvey in the general election five months later, receiving 206,916 (59.73%) votes to Harvey’s 128,976 (37.23%).
Timmons has said he will seek just one more term in office – but an Upstate businessman is trying to send him packing ahead of schedule.
David Atchley, a Greenville economic development consultant, is officially launching his campaign with a mid-February fundraising kickoff – signaling his intention to unseat the fourth-term incumbent in this spring’s GOP primary election.
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The 60-year-old executive’s campaign paints him as a self-made conservative outsider with private-sector experience and deep ties to Upstate economic development. According to his campaign website, he has “led large-scale initiatives uniting business, nonprofit, and education sectors” and promises to bring that record to Congress.
“I’m not running for a title — I’m running to serve this district,” Atchley said. “As a common sense Republican, I believe in practical solutions: term limits, insurance reform, fair immigration policies, and cutting wasteful spending.”
News of Atchley’s candidacy was first reported by Macon Atkinson of The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, who quoted the business leader as saying he believed the district could “do better” – and subsequently quoted Timmons as saying his latest rival “will be dispatched like the others.”
Timmons, 41, 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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Timmons has represented South Carolina’s fourth congressional district – which includes Greenville and Spartanburg counties – since 2018 when he won a crowded GOP primary to replace another former prosecutor, Trey Gowdy.
A former prosecutor, Timmons’ combustible personal life has created headaches for him in the past – and nearly cost him his seat in congress. Could those headaches resurface this spring?
Filing for partisan primary offices opens at 12:00 p.m. EDT on March 16, 2026 and closes at the same time on March 30, 2026. The GOP primary is scheduled for June 9, 2026. While it is not immediately clear whether Timmons will draw any additional opponents, he would need to win more than 50% of the Republican vote on the first ballot to secure the nomination.
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In South Carolina partisan primary races, if no candidate wins a majority of votes on the first ballot a runoff election between the top two candidates is held two weeks later – with the winner of that race securing their party’s nomination.
According to the latest Partisan Voting Index (PVI) from the Cook Political Report, the fourth district is one of the Palmetto State’s most conservative enclaves – with a rating of R+11. It has been in Republican hands since 1993, and Democrats have not credibly competed for it since then.
That means whoever captures the GOP nomination is all but assured of prevailing in the general election in November.
Keep it tuned to FITSNews for pertinent updates on this race – and other partisan primary elections across the Palmetto State as part of our ongoing Crossroads 2026 coverage.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Erin Parrott is a Greenville, S.C. native who graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2025 with a bachelor degree in broadcast journalism. Got feedback or a tip for Erin? Email her here.
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11 comments
Had it not been for the Chuck Wright sycophants in Spartanburg Timmons would have lost last time. He got trounced in his home county despite his support from the Augusta Road country club democrats. Time for a change
I believe Ms Parrott would have received a Bachelor’s degree from usc…
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste
your intelligence on just posting videos to your blog when you
could be giving us something enlightening to read?
Yeah, not going to happen. This is a vanity campaign that will cost Atchley a lot of money and produce very little result.
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