GOP runoff for 3rd District features split endorsements from Trump, Gov. McMaster

Sheri Biggs, left, and Mark Burns, right, faced off Tuesday, June 25, 2024, in the 3rd Congressional District GOP primary runoff. (Sheri Biggs campaign, File/Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

An evangelical pastor backed by Donald Trump and an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel endorsed by Gov. Henry McMaster face off in a primary runoff for the GOP nomination in the open 3rd Congressional District.

Mark Burns is a self-described “junkyard dog” who vows to fight for Trump in Congress, while Sheri Biggs says she’s focused on healing the nation by addressing Washington’s fiscal, mental and spiritual health problems.

It’s the only congressional race where Trump and McMaster differ on their endorsements. McMaster has aligned with Trump since 2016, when South Carolina’s then-lieutenant governor became the first elected official to back Trump for president.

The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will face Democrat Bryon Best in November to represent the conservative Upstate district that spans 11 counties and runs along the Georgia border. After U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan announced in January that he wouldn’t seek re-election after 14 years in Congress, the race to replace him became a seven-way contest between Republicans. 

Burns, who’s made a national name for himself since 2016 as a staunch Trump supporter, led in the primary with 33% of the vote. Biggs picked up 29%. 

It’s Burns’ third run for Congress but his first in the 3rd District.

He ran twice unsuccessfully for the adjacent 4th District. In 2022, he lost to incumbent U.S. Rep. William Timmons, who secured Trump’s endorsement and won a four-way primary outright with 53% of the votes. Burns trailed in second place with 24%. In 2018, when Timmons first won the seat, Burns placed eighth in a 13-way primary. 

Now Burns, a televangelist with a TV network he founded and pastor of The Harvest Praise & Worship Center of Easley, is running with Trump’s backing. “There are many great conservatives exploring a run for that seat, but Mark Burns has been with me from the very beginning of our Movement,” Trump wrote on his social media site April 1. 

Biggs, who has a doctorate of nursing practice and a bachelor’s degree in Christian ministries, is making her first run for office. Her win could give South Carolina two women in Congress for the first time ever.  

“Our platform has been to heal our nation. I feel like we are broken,” she told the SC Daily Gazette. “I just thought there was a huge need. People are struggling, so it kind of landed me in this spot.”

Sparks fly on stage

The runoff has grown heated, with sparks flying as the candidates faced off in a debate Tuesday. 

“We need a Trump-endorsed pit bull, not a poodle,” Burns said on the debate stage, as he called Biggs a “swamp creature.”

Burns, born in Anderson and raised in Belton, criticized Biggs, who moved to the state from Mississippi in 2017, as not a true South Carolinian. 

Biggs shot back that he was “chihuahua” and attacked Burns for previously reported inaccuracies in his record from college and in military service. In 2016, CNN reported that Burns served in the South Carolina National Guard but claimed service in the Army Reserve, and that Burns said he had a bachelor’s degree he did not earn.

In a particularly odd exchange, Biggs accused Burns of being a Democrat who voted for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Burns responded that he wasn’t old enough to vote for Bill Clinton — he was 17 when Clinton was re-elected in 1996 — and disputed that he voted for Biden. On social media, however, he did confirm that he voted for Obama, noting that nearly all Black voters did. 

On the issues, the candidates largely agreed.

Both want to finish the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Both said Congress needed to balance the national budget. And both candidates highlighted their Christian faith. 

One place where the candidates split during the debate is on the issue of abortion. Biggs suggested she would be open to a national ban, while Burns said he backed Trump’s position that the issue is now up to the states.

“I am pro-life, from the beginning to the end, that means from conception to the end of life,” Biggs said during the debate. “So, for me, if the states can’t take care of the issue … I say we do whatever we have to do to protect life.”

Burns indicated he would take his pit-bull approach to the federal government, tearing it apart if necessary.

During the debate, he said he would be willing to shut down the government to prevent excessive spending. He also advocated eliminating the federal Department of Education and revisiting the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which grants birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States. 

Burns did not answer questions from the SC Daily Gazette. An assistant for him initially set up an interview but then canceled it due to scheduling issues and did not respond to requests to reschedule.

Ahead of the debate, Biggs told the Gazette that her top policy priority is securing the border and — adopting Trump’s position — deporting people in the country without authorization. She said as she travels the district, she has tried to learn more about the local economic drivers, from textiles to nuclear energy.

“(Voter’s) concern is the border and security but the other thing I’m hearing … is the economy and how families are struggling to make ends meet because of inflation,” she said. 

Campaign money oddities

Of all the primary candidates in the 3rd Congressional race, Burns and Biggs had the most money as of June 5. But how the candidates are financing this run has become a matter of contention.

Burns had raised just $16,172 as of that pre-runoff filing. But he had received two loans totaling $750,000: $500,000 initially and then, days after that June 5 cutoff, an additional loan for $250,000, according to records filed June 9 with the Federal Election Commission. Both loans were made by the Bank of Washington — Washington, Missouri, that is.

The $500,000 loan was finalized on April 26, according to FEC records. The only collateral listed is “future contributions.” The loan is due back on Nov. 30 of this year, at 9.5% interest. It’s unclear he’s going to pay that back or why the bank was willing to make the loans. 

Candidates often loan themselves money, but a bank loan of this kind is unusual.

The FEC records show a number of organizations receiving loans from outside organizations, including banks, this cycle. But most are political action committees or parties, not candidates. 

“I had never seen anything like this,” Kevin Bishop, another candidate for the 3rd District who did not make the runoff, told the SC Daily Gazette.

Bishop emailed the Bank of Washington on June 6, asking about the loan and suggesting that with significantly more money raised than Burns, he might be a better candidate for such a loan. On June 7, he received a reply from the bank president, Buzz Eckelkamp, according to emails Bishop shared with the Gazette.

“While the Bank of Washington is always open to establishing new relationships with new customers, we are not currently interested in pursuing additional loans of this type, and therefore must respectfully decline your inquiry,” Eckelkamp wrote.

Eckelkamp did not return a call from the Gazette requesting comment.

Bishop wrote again, noting that according to FEC filings, the same day Eckelkamp turned him down, the bank gave Burns the second loan of $250,000. Bishop said he did not receive a reply.

“I had not even been allowed to apply,” he said. 

Bishop, the former longtime communications director for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, has not endorsed either candidate in the runoff.

The expenditures of the Burns campaign are equally obscure. As of June 5, the campaign lists just six expenditures, two of which are $200,000 each to Invictus Strategies LLC, a Delaware firm, for “advertising.” A third is $5,000 to the Bank of Washington for a “loan origination fee.” 

Invictus Strategies of Delaware appears to have solely worked with two political action committees in recent years, according to FEC expenditure data — Get Georgia Right PAC and Our American Century. (There are also Invictus Strategies LLC listed in Virginia and Kansas. It is unclear if they are the same company).

No other congressional campaigns appear to have disclosed payments to Invictus of Delaware since 2010, and no expenditures are reported between 2010 and 2021.

Bishop noted that some strategy companies can manage a range of services for a campaign, beyond just advertising.

Burns also has outstanding loans from past runs for Congress in the adjacent 4th Congressional District, totaling $100,000. But these were personal loans to his campaign from himself. He also listed a personal expenditure of $9,590 for a vehicle wrap as a debt of the campaign. 

Asked about the money during the debate, Burns said it did not matter where he did his banking.

Biggs raised about $220,000 and loaned her campaign a total of $345,000.

“I wanted to put money into the campaign because I wanted voters to take me seriously and to know I had skin in the game,” Biggs told the Gazette. “You know I didn’t think it was fair to ask anything of our voters and people in the district without me making the same sacrifices.”

Biggs and her husband Bill are regular political donors, including to McMaster. When McMaster rallied with Trump in New Hampshire, the flight was provided by HMR Veterans Services, owned by Bill Biggs. 

HMR Veterans Services is Anderson-based company that manages veterans’ homes in South Carolina and other states. Both Bill and Sheri Biggs were members of the committee that organized McMaster’s inaugural ceremonies following his 2022 re-election win.

Biggs told the Gazette that the governor’s endorsement came from her work on Republican causes and in the community, not from her political support. 

Both candidates have also benefited from outside spending from political action committees, according to the website OpenSecrets, which are not allowed to coordinate with campaigns by law. 

For Biggs, this outside spending included $300,000 from the Elect Principled Veterans Fund, which receives most of its money from another PAC: With Honor Fund II, Inc. That PAC has over $10.5 million in revenue for this cycle, including $100,000 from Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund, a group in favor of gun control, but also groups like an Air Line Pilots Association PAC. 

Burns criticized Biggs for the winding connection to Everytown for Gun Safety, which he further tied to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg based on an article from the right-wing outlet Breitbart News. 

Burns is the largest recipient of support this cycle from Our American Century, the conservative PAC who also used Invictus Strategies. He has also drawn nearly $400,000 in opposition spending from other PACS.

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