HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Asa Hutchinson is running for president against two candidates from South Carolina, but he said he hopes South Carolinians can appreciate his experience.
Hutchinson was in Hartsville at the Vintage Craft Beer and Wine Boutique on Tuesday night to speak with fellow Republicans about issues important to them. He said he respects the two South Carolina candidates, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott, but said having different voices is always important.
“We’re all basically conservative, but we express things in different ways,” Hutchinson said. “It’s good to have different voices out there because you don’t know who’s going to last through the early states.”
While the connection to South Carolina is obvious for former Governor Haley and for Senator Scott, Hutchinson also has a connection to the state.
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He studied at Bob Jones University for his undergraduate degree, almost went to the University of South Carolina for law school and knows Gov. Henry McMaster well, he said.
“It’s terrific that we have all three of us in the race,” Hutchinson said. “I think it’ll be very positive.”
Although he is from Arkansas, and recently finished up two terms as the state’s governor, Hutchinson said he can relate to the people of South Carolina in a number of ways.
“What I bring is an understanding of life in small communities, in which people value their quality of life and their values,” he said.
South Carolina is similar in many ways to Arkansas, he said. For instance, the state has many small towns and is primarily an agricultural state with a strong manufacturing base.
What happens in Washington impacts the Pee Dee’s private sector, according to Hutchinson. He said, if elected, he wants to lower interest rates and fight inflation by deregulating particularly the energy industry and lowering federal spending.
HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Asa Hutchinson may be running for president against two candidates from South Carolina, but he said he hopes South Carolinians can appreciate his experience. Hutchinson was in Hartsville at the Vintage Craft Beer and Wine Boutique on Tuesday night to speak with fellow Republicans about issues important to them.
“I have a goal in life, and that is that the private selector of the economy grows faster than the government sector. Is that not fundamental to America?” he asked.
While governor, Hutchinson lowered taxes, cut the number of people employed by the state and ended his two terms with a $2 million surplus, he said. In Washington, Hutchinson said he hopes to bring the same financial knowledge that helped him as governor.
Hutchinson also brings experience “dealing with the border crisis that we have and dealing with fentanyl” as the former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, he said.
“I’ve been in Mexico working on fighting the cartels and working with Mexico to dismantle the cartels there that made a difference at that time,” Hutchinson said. “Of course, we got to do that again.”
In foreign policy, Hutchinson said China and Russia are threatening the United States’ number one spot in military and economic dominance.
“Weakness breeds contempt and breeds aggression. We have to be strong in the United States,” he said. “Yes, I want us to be number one.”
Hutchinson also said he would push back against the “social agenda” that he said the federal government under the guidance of President Joe Biden is pushing. Specifically, he said the government should not be pushing “transgenderism” on schools.
“If I’m president, that kind of agenda setting from the left side is certainly going to stop,” he said. “We’re going to let local communities once again run their schools, run their communities, determine their morals.”
In March 2021, he signed a law that banned transgender women from participating in women’s sports teams in schools.
AP reported that many national advocacy groups said the ban and similar laws targeting trans youth risk further marginalizing the group, which already has a high risk for bullying, depression and suicide.
Shortly after signing the athlete bill, Hutchinson vetoed another piece of legislation in April 2021 that bans gender-affirming care for anyone under 18, but the Arkansas state legislature overrode the veto.
