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BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. () – Just one day after Nancy Mace (R -SC-01) spoke at a town hall in Beaufort County, Jim Clyburn (D-SC-06), a representative for the next district over, held his own town hall in Beaufort.
There was a packed auditorium at the Technical College of the Lowcountry Thursday, many attendees armed with questions and concerns for Clyburn, some of them not even his constituents.
Beaufort County is split between Mace and Clyburn although, Mace represents a much larger portion of the county.
“I think that there are people in this part of Beaufort that I do not represent and never did represent that would like to interact with their government officials, and I’m here to interact with them,” Clyburn said.
Several of Mace’s constituents were in attendance Thursday night.
When asked who her elected representative was, Charleston resident Patty Toussaint said, “I’m ashamed to say it’s Nancy Mace, and I’m ashamed of her and her behavior, especially toward vulnerable people.”
Many attendees brought up the difference in venue between Clyburn and Mace’s events.
“She’s our congresswoman, and she didn’t let us know that she was coming. She doesn’t want to hear from her constituents that don’t agree with her,” Jasper County residents Ted and Julie Sommers, who also live in Mace’s district said.
Mace was invited to hold her town hall on Wednesday inside a gated community on Dataw Island. Clyburn held his on a public campus.
“If Nancy Mace wanted to see her constituents and meet us where we are, she could have,” Marque Fireall, another attendee, said.
One of the night’s speakers, Chair of the Beaufort County Democratic Party, Kathleen Hughes said, “If a representative claims to be afraid to face the everyday people of their district, working class people, parents, veterans, retirees. It’s time to elect new leadership.”
Clyburn fielded several questions about critical issues, like cuts to government programs.
“They [veterans] should be taken care of by this government that they gave so much to help preserve,” Clyburn said.
One of several veterans at Thursday’s town hall, Fireall, said, “I lost my leg. I was in a situation where if it were not for the VA, I would have been destitute.”
Clyburn also addressed constituents’ concerns about funding for social security.
“I’m very concerned about all the rhetoric that’s going on about social security,” he said. “Our social security trust fund should be there for all of us. It has been for 89 years…and we should never allow social security to become privatized.”