Readers of this blog know pastor Mark Burns. In July 2016, he offered a prayer at the GOP National Convention. He asked God to defeat the “liberal democrats” and said that the Republican Party is the “conservative party under God.” He is one Trump’s many court evangelicals.
Here is the Charleston Post and Courier:
GREENVILLE — The race for South Carolina’s most conservative U.S. House district is headed to a runoff.Â
Mark Burns, a leading face of the Christian nationalist movement, and Sheri Biggs, a nurse and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, battled for the lead in the first round of voting in the June 11 Republican primary for the Upstate’s 3rd Congressional District.
Because neither garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, the pair are heading to a runoff where Upstate voters will be asked to come out again June 25.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:15 p.m.
Burns earned 31 percent of the votes, while Biggs came away with 29 percent with about 75 percent of votes counted, according to the South Carolina Election Commission.
Burns emerged as a top contender despite raising relatively little in the race. Most observers pegged the two best-funded campaigns — Biggs and state Rep. Stewart Jones — to make it to the finale.
But in a rural Republican district where every vote counts, Burns had one of the most coveted endorsements in Republican politics working in his favor: former President Donald Trump.
The runoff winner will go on to face Democratic primary winner Bryon Best from Greenwood in the general election Nov. 5.
Burns told The Post and Courier on June 11 that his team felt strong.
“I think that we the people have spoken pretty loud and clear, that they support the greatest president in our lifetime, President Donald Trump,” Burns said. “They support his plan, and they want to see a true, strong MAGA Republican go and represent them in Washington, D.C., and support president Trump.”Â
Read the rest here.