NEWBERRY — Republican Ralph Norman is looking to represent South Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District in the House of Representatives, the seat left vacant after Mick Mulvaney was appointed to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
“The last eight years I was pretty frustrated with politics, politicians. Had the election gone the other way, I was done, the country was done in my opinion, another eight years of that, and by that I mean that type of business, economy and all of the above would not have been good,” Norman said. “I had a new life (on Nov. 8, 2016) from a political standpoint and decided it was time to get involved again, and this seat, I can have an impact in a positive way.”
Norman was first elected to in 2005 to the S.C. House of Representatives for District 48 (northern York County). He said he was then recruited, in 2006, to run against incumbent John Spratt for the Fifth Congressional District seat. However, he lost that election.
“The seat for my House was occupied, and that person left in 2010, mid-term, and I ran for my old seat again and won, so I have been serving for the last seven years,” Norman said.
There are roughly 15 individuals who are vying for the seat, seven of which, including Norman, are running as Republicans.
“The water is warm, a lot of people jumped in. I am the only one that has a successful business background and a successful political background. I am not a trial lawyer, I do not sue people for a living. We build hotels, shopping centers, we build a tax base that pays for police protection, fire protection,” Norman said. “Secondly, I am a rare politician. I am not beholden to anybody. I am an independent. I can say no, I can say yes. A lot of politicians are so indebted to people to get the seat that they want, both on a local level, but particularly on a national level. The third thing that separates me, I have got a conservative voting record that everyone can look at for the past eight years, when this race was not even on the horizon.”
If elected
Norman said that he wants to get the country on a firm financial footings which means separating needs versus wants, adding that government cannot be all things to all people.
“From the 30,000 foot view, you have got to get the country on a firm financial footing, $20 trillion in debt you cannot run a country like that, just like you cannot run a household on that. The only reason we have been able to do that is because we are printing money. A family cannot print money, you either have to earn it or get it from some source,” he sad.
Norman believes that the Trump administration is currently trying to separate needs versus wants.
“As an example, sanctuary cities, you cut the funding on that, EPA you cut the funding on fluff. The 600 people he had the allotment to fund, he said no we do not need them. That only puts money back into the tax payers pocket,” Norman said.
Norman would also like to strengthen the military, saying there is a security problem in this county, siting the attacks that have been suffered in the United States.
“We have got to get our military back to where people respect us.” he said.
If elected, Norman said he would support term limits, adding that we need to get the dead wood politicians out, for both the House and the Senate, particularly the Senate.
“You have got a bunch of prima donnas in there, just because they have a lot of money they can stay in office because they give out favors, term limits outta be in everything. The idea of citizen legislation is not a thing of the past, it should be a thing of the future and I promote that,” he said.
Norman added that he is also for building the wall, saying that is what President Trump promised. He also said that healthcare is unsuitable as it is.
“The first pass at the bill did not work, but no bill is better than a bad bill. It is like most things, the truth lies somewhere in between and I think they will come up with the truth,” he said. “You only have one provider in a lot of cases, if you only had one grocery store to buy from, or one car dealer to go, guess what, your prices would be high. I think he will come up with a healthcare bill after it is hammered out, which is how it should be.”
The Primary for the Fifth Congressional District will be on May 2, according to scvotes.org, Norman said there needs to be a good turn out, that is higher than 10 percent.
“Voting is a privilege and a right all Americans have, we outta take this May 2 vote seriously and go to the polls and have a good turn out, to have a 10 percent or less turn out is unacceptable. We have a lot of candidates to choose from, I am the best one from my background and I would urge everyone to go onto electralphnorman.com and see how I really have a history that they will appreciate. If they liked Mick Mulvaney vote, they are going to love Ralph Norman’s vote,” he said.