Rooted in South Carolina

I was born here, baptized here, and blessed to marry the love of my life here in South Carolina.

I grew up making friends under piers while looking for sea creatures, floating down blackwater rivers, and exploring the streams and trails of the Upstate.

I have been blessed to learn, work, and grow alongside some of the best people this country has to offer: South Carolinians.

Growing up here also meant growing up surrounded by history.

I saw early on how easily people can twist history to fit a narrative or use it to excuse what should never be excused. But history itself is the message, and I believe we have to face it honestly: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Through that history, I saw how cruelty can be justified when power goes unchecked. I also saw how good people can band together, push back, and make progress through courage, sacrifice, and fellowship.

My life in South Carolina taught me to love this place and its people deeply, but also to know it can still grow to be better.

Family, Service, and Work Ethic

My mother is a school nurse, and helped our church support the community through a free health clinic. I watched doctors, nurses, and volunteers give up their nights to help people who had fallen on hard times. At that clinic, I saw schoolmates and neighbors I never expected to see there. That showed me how painful it can be when people fall through the cracks, but also how much good can be done when a community comes together to uplift its neighbors.

Hard Work, Growth, & Building Your Dream

Florence Downtown Development Corp., Historic Preservation page.

After high school, I worked in kitchens & catering, in beverage sales with grocery stores & local businesses, and on vending routes that took me to job sites across South Carolina.

In these jobs, I worked beside the people who shape and sustain our communities every day: cooks, fire fighters, drivers, construction workers, warehouse workers, salespeople, small business employees and so many others.

I also had the chance to learn from brilliant professors in the classroom, and to take part in scientific field work that taught me rigor, curiosity, and respect for evidence. I studied alongside Americans seeking an education while working and raising a family. These people were investing in themselves and their future. This deepened my respect for education, sacrifice, and the determination it takes to keep building a life when the road is not always straight.

Those experiences put me beside all kinds of people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and ideas. They taught me that, no matter how much politics and the media try to divide us, most people are trying to do what they believe is right, care for the people they love, and build a better life. That is why I believe in fellowship over division, because too often the real problem is not our neighbors, but broken systems that push working people to the brink and fail to serve them well.

Taxes & Public Service

I have seen people working hard, doing right by their families, and still not receiving the protections, pay, or respect they deserve. At the same time, every paycheck still had taxes taken out. That shaped the way I see government.

Tax dollars are not abstract money. They are hours of someone’s life, time away from family, and money that could have gone toward savings, a home, or a dream.

If government is going to require that investment from working people, it has a responsibility to return real value, protect their rights, and treat every dollar with respect. It should also make sure hardworking Carolinians are not carrying more of the tax burden than they should.

This is what drives me toward public service. I want to uplift, protect, and care for my neighbors, as these experiences and my faith direct me. I have seen representation in South Carolina fall short of that calling for decades. I am done waiting. I am stepping up to give my neighbors the representation they deserve.