FORT MILL, S.C. — Tuesday marks one week away from the special election to decide who will replace the late Senator Lindsey Graham on the November ballot.
Congressman Russell Fry, who is hoping to win next week, described himself as a fighter, who wants to use his experience to deliver results for everyday people.
“I grew up, I don’t have a political name, I don’t have family money, we didn’t grow up with much,” Fry said, “And it was very working poor, working family, and it was a great way to grow up because you had to fight for everything that you earned.”
Fry described the childhood he says shaped him into the leader he is today.
“Well, I have a record, right? And it’s not just voting the right way, we’re delivering results to people,” Fry said.
He says he wants to use more than a decade of experience as a representative in South Carolina and in the U.S. House to deliver results for working families as a U.S. Senator.
“It’s important that you pull people together and that you enact an agenda that makes people’s lives better,” Fry said, “Lower energy costs in their homes, more fuel supply on the marketplace so that the gas, the price of gas is lower.”
Channel 9’s Tina Terry asked Fry what sets him apart from the crowded field of candidates.
“I’m younger, I’m energetic, we have the fight to deliver forward, to deliver, you know, not just conservative votes, but conservative results,” Fry said. “I think that’s what people ultimately want, is they want to see that you’re working hard, that you’re not just sitting up there as part of the furniture, that you’re not standing in the way of the president’s agenda or trying to get more TV time, that you’re actually putting in the work.”
But can he make it to the U.S. Senate without the endorsement of President Donald Trump? Early in the race the president threw his support behind newly-appointed Senator Darline Graham.
“What I can faithfully say is that when I’m in the Senate, the people vote me into the Senate, we’re going to be an ally to the president,” Fry said. “I think it’s important that you work with people, and the president’s a good friend, I could call him right now. We have helped him in the House, we’ve helped deliver the big, beautiful bill.”
Political opponent and Congressman Ralph Norman has criticized Fry for running for Senate before his congressional seat is complete. Fry called the criticism a distraction and a strategy to kick him off of the ballot.
Fry is already running for re-election for the 7th Congressional District. If he wins both that seat and Senate, his house seat will remain vacant until May. And there’s a chance that could have an impact on who is Speaker of the House.