By Rev. Kenneth Hodges
This November, Lowcountry Democrats have a historic opportunity to replace Nancy Mace, restore our party’s House majority, and deliver for working families across South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District.
But first, we must nominate the candidate best-equipped to win back this swing seat from extreme Republicans.
That’s why, in our June 11 primary election, I’m voting for Michael B. Moore – a first-time citizen candidate and a proven business leader with nearly four decades of private sector experience.
Moore has held leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurial ventures, and nonprofit organizations. More recently, he served as founding president and CEO of the International African American Museum (IAAM), which opened its doors in Charleston last summer.
Moore was a natural choice to head up this important initiative: He’s an experienced business and community leader with a proven record of balancing budgets, bridging divides, and bringing home results for SC-01.
In fact, Moore is the only candidate in this race who has delivered real, big-time investment to the Lowcountry.
At the IAAM, Moore cultivated donors, forged alliances, and realized a vision that had been in the works for more than two decades. When all was said and done, he helped raise more than $125 million for the historic site.
It wasn’t an easy job. At the time, folks warned IAAM that Republican lawmakers in Columbia wouldn’t be willing to fund a project like the IAAM — one that tells the complete story of our country’s complicated history.
But IAAM made connections. He found a way. And he got the job done while showing civility and respect for his peers on the other side of the negotiating table. As our next representative, I know Michael will deliver those same bipartisan results for our coastal communities.
In both business and politics, IAAM values are informed by his family’s legendary legacy of service to the Lowcountry.
Moore comes from a long line of pioneering public servants and civil rights leaders — most notably his great-great-grandfather, Civil War hero and Reconstruction-era Congressman Robert Smalls.
After representing Beaufort County in the South Carolina General Assembly, Smalls went on to become one of the first African Americans to serve in Congress.
I held the same seat as Smalls in the state House of Representatives, and Moore is now running to represent the same Lowcountry congressional district that Smalls served almost 150 years ago.
Moreover, as pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, I preside over the place of worship where Smalls is buried. In March, Michael formally launched his campaign at our church – beside a bust of Smalls that he unveiled as a teenager back in 1976.
Moore is rightfully proud of his ancestors’ legacy of service to the Lowcountry. If he is elected to represent our district, Moore would be the fourth in the last five generations of family members to hold public office.
But make no mistake: Moore is running for Congress because of the future of South Carolina, not the past.
Nowadays, the American Dream feels out of reach for too many folks, and our fundamental freedoms remain under threat from our own representatives in Washington.
Moore wants to fight for those freedoms and preserve the promise of opportunity across the Lowcountry — for his own four sons and for working families across this district.
For example, Moore has been outspoken in advocating for the voting rights of more than 30,000 Black folks — Lowcountry families who were unconstitutionally removed from SC-01 during redistricting.
Last fall, Moore even spoke in front of the Supreme Court as the justices heard oral arguments in South Carolina’s racial gerrymandering case.
I know that this issue is personal for Moore. You see, a century and a half ago, Robert Smalls’ congressional district was also gerrymandered by powerful politicians.
And today, many of the Black families kicked out of SC-01 are almost certainly descended from the same constituents that Moore’s great-great-grandfather served.
While I wish it wasn’t necessary, I’m glad Moore is championing the same ideals that Smalls stood for in his lifetime: equality, justice, and voting rights for all.
I firmly believe that Moore is the only candidate who can translate those values into real action and tangible results for SC-01 — by energizing Democratic voters, persuading independent-minded Republicans, and assembling the coalition needed to win this election in November.
I’m counting on Moore to help restore honest leadership, commonsense solutions, and Lowcountry values to Washington. But first, let’s make him our Democratic nominee for Congress on June 11.
Rev. Kenneth Hodges is the pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort and the owner of LyBensons’ Gallery on St. Helena Island. He is the former State Representative for House District 121.
