'It's a fast race to the finish': Mark Lynch breaks down US Senate special primary campaign
In a one-on-one interview with WYFF News 4, South Carolina Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Lynch laid out his goals as he runs for U.S. Senate for the second time this year, following the unexpected death of Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 11.
Lynch said his campaign team met the afternoon after Graham’s death and discussed another potential run — and after prayer — decided to run again in the August 11 special primary.
"We got to jump in and finish what we started, so we are in it," Lynch recalled of the conversation.
Lynch - the owner of Jeff Lynch Appliance in Greenville – finished second to Sen. Graham in the June 9 primary, finishing with 29% of the vote, and was the top vote-getter in Greenville and Spartanburg counties.
“We achieved a big milestone and people the citizens of South Carolina were ready for an outsider, a businessman to come and take that seat and get a true conservative in office to be their voice in D.C.,” Lynch said.
The businessman said his top priorities remain affordability, slowing government spending and dealing with national security threats at home.
“I’m an outsider,” Lynch said. “I’m not a career politician, I’m not an attorney, I’m a successful businessman. We’ve grown (our business) 35 times, debt-free, we are a leader in the community, I’m an ordained deacon in our church and the only way we can make America Great Again is to bring God back first and that is our whole campaign.”
Lynch said his campaign is a contrast to some of the other special primary candidates with current or previous elected office experience.
"A lot of these guys running now are talking about the right things, but they’ve had a chance for the last years, eight years, six years, however long they’ve been in office," Lynch added.
Now, with less than a two-week sprint until the August 11 special primary, Lynch said his campaign team remains intact, and their message remains the same.
"We have a lot of stuff already built: the website, the campaign team, everybody is back, we’ve already started our marketing plans with TV and digital and social and Facebook and Twitter and all the messaging that we are doing, we’ve already shot two commercials," Lynch said.
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Lynch said he supports ending the filibuster, which would allow a simple majority vote to approve most legislation.