On TV, SC’s Tom Rice, Russell Fry strike starkly different tones
As the primary race for Myrtle Beach’s seat in Congress gets under way, two of the leading candidates are striking drastically different tones in their advertisements.
South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District stretches all the way from Georgetown to Chesterfield County, but two beach-area natives have emerged as frontrunners: Incumbent Tom Rice (R-Myrtle Beach) and state House member Russell Fry (R-Surfside Beach).
Both men have circulated television advertisements in recent weeks, drawing stark contrasts between themselves.
Rice is pitching himself as a gentle worker, and as someone more dignified than “Russell Fraud” and his “childish, absurd” attacks — phrases Rice’s campaign has used in response to Fry’s ads.
In a television ad he’s been circulating in recent weeks — with little fanfare — Rice touts the “help” he’s brought home to the Grand Strand and Pee Dee “through storms and floods and now pandemic.”
Rice notes federal dollars he’s brought home to aid flooded families, shows footage of a beach re-nourishment project and hints at his vote for the CARES Act, which he has said was important to keep the economy afloat during the pandemic.
“Sure, we’ve had challenges but our future is bright because we stand together,” Rice says in the ad while standing next to his wife, Wrenzie.
At town halls, Rice has struck a similar tone, focusing mostly on the federal grants he’s helped secure for the region and bills he’s supported to help locals.
One of those grants — $157 million in 2020 — is currently helping Horry County buy out dozens of flood-prone homes in Socastee’s Rosewood neighborhood.
He’s also touted the service, shipping and logistics jobs that have come to the Dillon area as a result of the Inland Port he helped land in the county.
And last week, Rice announced he was co-sponsoring a bill with Texas Democrat Vicente Gonzalez to raise the limits on flood insurance payouts.
If it passes, that would mean families with flood insurance could receive thousand more dollars to repair, raise or demolish their homes, or move to a new area.
Rice has gone as far to describe himself as a “nerd” compared to other candidates positioning themselves as “flamethrowers.”
“I was a tax lawyer and a CPA. I’m like the definition of a nerd,” Rice told constituents at a February town hall. “I’m not a flamethrower, guys. I know a lot of people like to flame throw, but I think we’ve got plenty of flamethrowers. I want get things done. I want to move the country forward.”
In other ads that Rice has circulated in recent months, he’s asserted that Republicans should run on their “ideas” rather than their undying support of Trump. He’s made that stance a central part of his re-election bid.
“Our ideas are better than their ideas and we have to run on our ideas, not allegiance to one very conflict-oriented, divisive man,” Rice said in a three-minute video launching his campaign last year.
For his part, Fry is pitching himself to voters as a scrappy fighter.
In his first ad, he took a swipe at Rice, calling him a “villain,” and putting him in company with the devil and other evildoers from popular culture. The ad shows Rice confessing various “sins” — including voting to impeach former President Donald Trump — and the other “villains” telling him he’s too much, even for them.
In his second ad, launched this week, Fry returns to his humble Surfside Beach roots and says he grew up in a cinder-block house without heating or air conditioning.
“My parents taught me to work hard and always try to help your neighbor,” Fry says in the ad.
Sharing a stage with Trump at a rally in Florence earlier this month, Fry struck a similar tone: He comes from humble beginnings but is willing to fight for the Trump agenda.
Trump has put a target on Rice’s back since the congressman voted to impeach him for his role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Rice has said President Joe Biden won the 2020 election and has avoided Trump’s preferred argument that the election was stolen and he was the rightful winner.
Fry, meanwhile, has agreed to toe that line, and has said the election was “rigged” and that Biden “is not my president.”
Trump endorsed Fry last month.
Both men have spent thousands of campaign dollars on their respective ads, according to FCC reports filed by local television stations.
Rice’s camp, to date, has spent around $48,000 on television ads. Fry’s camp declined to provide an overall figure.
Rice continues to hold a significant fundraising edge over Fry, according to the most recent fundraising data.
Fry meanwhile has taken consistent swipes at Rice.
At the Florence rally, Fry at one point led a chant of “Fry the Rice.”
Asked earlier this month why Fry has chosen to attack Rice as he had, Philip Habib, Fry’s campaign manager, Habib dodged the question and answered simply: “Republican voters (will) decide that in June.”
The Republican primary election is June 14.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional information about money spent on television ads.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 11:22 AM.
