COLUMBIA - As Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham’s star declines, challenger Catherine Fleming Bruce is going viral in national media, just as polling shows that the race’s gap between Republicans and Democrats is narrowing.
A December poll by Public Policy Polling with a ballot featuring Graham and a generic Democrat revealed a 6-point difference. Graham’s approval rating has sunk to 28%, and Democrats are stacking up unexpected wins in red areas. Democrats say that given these factors, the South Carolina US Senate race is winnable. If a candidate effectively mobilizes undecided voters and excites those who have stayed “on the couch,” the result could lead to Graham’s defeat.
The Catherine Fleming Bruce campaign believes that South Carolina voters recognize Bruce as “The People’s Candidate.” Bruce is a seasoned activist with an authentic track record of fighting corruption and defending federal programs that make health care, housing, education and necessities accessible and affordable. Catherine is the candidate who has the skill sets, education and experience that all translate into legislation that South Carolinians need back home.
After working and struggling their entire lives to provide for their families, grandmothers should not be left high and dry without decent healthcare. The same goes for parents who pay more than their share of taxes and who work two or three jobs to get by, who are the backbone of the American economy. Access to affordable health care is a major concern, with close to 600,000 South Carolinians poised to lose access.
Voters will benefit from Catherine’s training as an HHS-certified navigator for the Affordable Care Act, which included Marketplace plans, Medicare and Medicaid knowledge. She met with South Carolinians of all races, in all parts of the state, helping them with their individual health care situations and sharing her expertise, which is needed today more than ever in the face of Congress' failure to pass premium tax credits that made insurance affordable.
South Carolina voters in all 46 counties, and from all races, genders, ethnic groups and faiths can count on Catherine to continue the fight to preserve our democracy, ethics and equality, immigration and successful foreign policy, defense of our civil rights, environmental safety, restorative justice and rule of law in the face of an authoritarian administration.
Recently Catherine’s campaign splashed into the national spotlight, featuring her among 7 Black women who are running for US Senate. Essence magazine, The Root, Black Information Network, MSN and other major press ran stories on the article this week, recognizing the historic nature of expanding representation in the Upper Chamber of Congress
Catherine recognizes the importance of having a Senate majority with the power to block, repeal and correct an agenda that harms our communities and our nation. She wants to fight for South Carolina’s agenda, not the agenda of billionaires.
Electing Catherine is a historic opportunity:
1) Only FIVE Black women have ever served in the Senate since it was formed in 1789.
2) Only TWO Black women currently serve in the Senate, the most at one time in history.
3) No black women from South Carolina have ever served in the Senate or in the House (Congressman Clyburn has just published a book about the eight Black men who have been elected to serve in Washington from South Carolina, five white women from South Carolina have served in federal office)
4) South Carolina lags behind 26 other states and territories in electing a Black woman to federal office, including EIGHT Southern states.
5) With current gerrymandering of South Carolina Congressional Districts, and the threat of gerrymandering the sole district with a Black elected official (see this pre-filed bill), the Catherine Fleming Bruce campaign is our best opportunity to elect a Black woman to federal office.
Bruce announced her candidacy in November on the Statehouse grounds, in front of the replica of the Liberty Bell. A historian and educator, she wanted to emphasize the importance of the bell as an important landmark at a time when American freedoms, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, are being threatened.
Bruce ran against US Sen. Tim Scott in 2022. In 2022 Bruce was among the highest vote getters of all statewide candidates even though she was greatly outspent by other candidates.
Bruce graduated from Agnes Scott College in Georgia and earned an MA at the University of South Carolina and pursued doctoral studies there. She is a daughter of the late Honorable Louis Fleming, a Sumter County Council Chairman who was awarded the Order of the Palmetto in 2006 by Gov. Mark Sanford.
For more information about Catherine Fleming Bruce for US Senate, visit her campaign website at catherineflemingbruce.com. To donate:
PO Box 50055
Columbia, SC 29250
803-587-9712