Republican running for 6th District again

Duke Buckner announced he’s running as a Republican next year for the seat currently held by U.S. House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn, a Democrat.

Buckner received about 38 percent of the vote in the 2022 general election, losing to Clyburn’s 62 percent.

“I am running again because I believe there needs to be a change in the 6th Congressional District,” Buckner said last week. “My campaign is focused on freedom and opportunity for all Americans.”

Clyburn, 83, is the state’s lone congressional Democrat. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1992 and is trying for his 17th term.

Buckner is not the only Republican running against Clyburn for the House seat. First-time candidate Dennis Whiteley has also filed to run.

U.S. House District 6 includes all of Allendale, Bamberg, Calhoun, Clarendon, Hampton and Williamsburg counties plus portions of Charleston, Colleton, Dorchester, Florence, Jasper, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties.

Buckner lays out vision

Buckner said the world has changed in the last year and things have not improved for residents of the 6th Congressional District.

He cited inflation.

“Prices are extremely high for food, for gas, for housing, for utilities,” Buckner said. “In essence, folks have been suffering now for a very long time because of the economy and inflation.”

Buckner said the 6th District continues to be the “seventh poorest Congressional District in the whole country” and continues to fall behind under Clyburn’s leadership.

“Most people are just surviving when they could be thriving and prospering and that is what I want to do,” Buckner said. “I want to make it so that people have the opportunity for good paying jobs, affordable health care, security, because crime is an issue.”

Also, “We have to have a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution,” Buckner said. “We have to make government run like we do our own finances: on a budget.

“Second, we have to reduce the national debt,” Buckner said. “That is $33 trillion that is causing all the interest rates and everything else in the economy to go up.”

“We are spending too much money,” he continued. “We’ve got to reduce spending and get the budget and the economy under control.”

He wants to raise the amount of money an individual can make and still qualify for Social Security and disability benefits. He said the current rate is not in line with inflation.

“That is squelching people from being able to go out and work,” Buckner said. “People want to work, but they are afraid if they work and earn too much money that they will lose their benefits.”

He also cited the need to have a balanced energy policy where alternative energy providers will work with oil and gas companies to drive the price of gasoline down.

“If gas goes up, it costs more to transport the goods and so businesses are going to charge more,” Buckner said.

Buckner also noted with war in the Middle East, in Ukraine and tensions related to Taiwan, global instability heightens the need to become more energy independent.

“My experience has shown whenever there is some type of conflict in the Middle East, gas and oil prices go up,” he said. “They are high now. They are going to go even higher.”

Buckner plans to, “encourage more entrepreneurship here at home” so that the U.S. is not dependent on foreign goods.

He believes voters, “are looking for people who are going to go and say what they mean and mean what they say.”

Buckner also cited the importance of a good education to help increase wealth.

“Education is critical,” he said. “Education is the key to freedom and opportunity.”

Buckner said he would make sure schools are safe. He favors increasing funding for security measures in schools.

Buckner says he also believes in school choice so parents can send their child where they want instead of failing schools. He supports “whatever it takes so that parents are more in control of where their child gets to go to school.”

“You want the best education for the children,” he said.

Buckner has run for political office in the past.

In 2020, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, challenging Sen. Lindsey Graham in the Republican primary.

S.C. GOP holds event

Buckner announced his candidacy locally last week as the state Republican Party was on the campus of South Carolina State University.

“It is important to engage with students across the state to make sure that they are registered to vote, they are involved in the voting process and they know the issues they see now and for the future,” S.C. Republican Party Executive Director Hope Walker said. “No matter what is going on, it is always important for the Republican Party to have a presence and to show that we are the big tent party and that we are welcoming.”