Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene endorses GOP challenger over SC Congressman Tom Rice
Outspoken Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump loyalist with a history of pushing conspiracy theories, is endorsing one of Rep. Tom Rice’s primary challengers in the South Carolina coastal House race.
On Tuesday, Greene, a Republican, put her support behind Graham Allen, a candidate who has yet to move into the district 7th Congressional District. He currently owns a home in Anderson County.
“Graham is a successful businessman, a loving husband and father, and is a true Patriot,” Greene said in her endorsement.
Primary challengers have jumped in to primary Rice after the Myrtle Beach Republican voted to impeach former president Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol. The breach occurred as Congress was certifying President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Rice was later censured by the state Republican Party.
Greene called Rice, a “swampy RINO (Republican in name only) Republican” and said he is “too weak, too timid, and too afraid to fight back against the Democrats’ communist takeover of America. He cannot be trusted.”
Her release was highlighted with the sentence, “Republican Traitors Who Join Democrats Will Be Primaried.”
In response, Rice’s campaign consultant Walt Whetsell brushed Greene’s endorsement aside.
“As a resident of Anderson County, Graham Allen lives a whole lot closer to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s district than the 7th Congressional District,” Whetsell said. “Voters here know and trust Tom Rice better than either of them.”
Allen, who’s raised $738,000 for his run, trails Rice in the fundraising race, who has raised $1.1 million during this cycle.
“He is still back and forth,” campaign manager James Blair said. “He has a rented place in the district while shopping for something permanent that the family can move too.”
Greene has been a controversial public figure at the Capitol since her election.
The House voted to remove Greene from her committee assignments after her old social media posts came to light, including of her pushing QAnon conspiracy theories, supporting executions of prominent Democratic politicians and posting a picture of herself with gun alongside pictures of Democratic House Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Sun News Reporter J. Dale Shoemaker contributed to this article.
This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene endorses GOP challenger over SC Congressman Tom Rice."
