GOP Congressional candidates vying for Mace’s 1st District seat
By Mike McCombs
The Island News
Republicans Bill Young and Catherine Templeton answered questions Monday night, May 20, in a candidate forum hosted by the Beaufort TEA Party, the Beaufort County Republican Party, the Beaufort Federation of Men, and the Beaufort Republican Women at AMVETS Post 70 in Port Royal.
Both Young and Templeton are vying for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District seat held by incumbent Nancy Mace, who declined to attend the event.
The questions were constructed by Annie Ubelis, President of the Beaufort TEA Party, and each candidate had several minutes to respond.
Education
The candidates were asked first about education – how to return a quality education to our students and what did the candidates see as the future of education in America?
Bill Young told the crowd of around 80 that, “Liberals have worked hard to indoctrinate our children and they have won.”
Young said we need to remove the influence of the U.S. Department of Education at the state level, while taking away, Critical Race Theory (CRT); diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); and gender ideology. He supports school choice.
And Young said we have a recruiting problem in America, that because of liberal education, kids don’t want to join the military.
Templeton agreed we need to get rid of the federal government’s oversight of education. She said there should be no strings when it comes to getting federal money for schools.
“We don’t need a federal agency telling us which programs to indoctrinate our children with,” she said.
Crime
The second question addressed whether or not crime falls under the purview of Congress.
Templeton said Americans needed to “let police do their job and support them.”
Young said we need to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cooperate better with local law enforcement, as well as slow growth and development.
He once again cited a recruiting problem, this time with public servants, and said we needed to crack down on protesters at schools like UCLA and Columbia that he claims is funded by George Soros.
But no matter what we do, he said, “if we want a smaller government, we’ve got to look at the local level.
Foreign policy
The foreign police question focused on aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, as well as our relationship with Putin, Russia and China.
Young said he would not support aid to Ukraine, and that is we stopped funding them, the rest of the world would step up. But he would support Israel because it supports American interests.
Young repeatedly supported defending our democracy over promoting and defending democracy elsewhere. And he was adamant we had to build up the Navy.
“We can’t address the Indo-Pacific if we don’t build up our naval fleet,” Young said. He also emphasized that we need to build up our infrastructure to build our infrastructure.
Templeton said we need defined goals in Ukraine. She shifted to the more important priority, the Southern border, where she said we need to add Border Patrol agents and build the wall.
And she made it clear that Israel is our partner.
“We need to let them do what they need to do, and we don’t need strings attached,” she said.
Both candidates advocated peace through strength.
Economy
The question about the economy had several parts addressing deficit spending, taxes, and a balanced budget.
Templeton said the Republican party needed to vote together to support a balanced budget amendment.
“Stop borrowing money,” she said. “We would stop spending more than we make.”
And then, make cuts.
“There’s so much low-hanging fruit in the United States budget.
Young threw out a slew of things he felt would improve the economy.
“Stop bailing industries out,” he said. “… PPP should have never happened.”
“Interest rates should never be zero.”
Energy independence. Rein in spending. Reduce the administrative state.
And force Congress to vote on spending bills separately and in order. No more omnibus bills.’
Immigration
This question had the most moving parts of the five. How do we halt illegal immigration immediately? How do we get increased penalties for repeat illegal immigrants? How do we return to stable immigration? As well as questions tying immigration to veterans benefits.
Young wants to immediately return to President Trump’s policy of “remain in Mexico,” in addition to finishing the wall. He also wants to make sure immigration courts have proper staffing and “strong immigration judges.”
And when Republican have an opportunity to make progress on the problem, they should move forward.
Young said Republicans can’t continue to allow immigration policy to be a problem just so “we have something to talk about on TV.”
Templeton said we have no choice but to get medieval. First, we have to secure the border, period. Second, change the law … change “may” to “shall” … to allow “remain in Mexico to work. And third, deport the illegal immigrants that are already here.
“America first,” Templeton said.
Charlie Russo lived in New York before moving to Port Royal. He found the event, “interesting.”
Russo said he doesn’t always vote a straight ticket, but in this race, he was voting Republican. But he said he “came in without a candidate. And it’s still TBD.”
He also said of the absent Mace, “a candidate not being here sends a signal.”
Nonetheless, he was pleased with the forum.
“I think this was a great showing.”
Mike McCombs is the Editor of The Island News and can be reached at TheIslandNews@gmail.com.
