Massey announces for SC-03

Cue the scramble. As elected officials vacate their seats to run for higher office, each seat down the ballot begins to fall like a domino. With U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett announcing that he will run for governor, State Sen. Shane Massey of Edgefield sent out a news release today declaring his intention to run for Barrett’s seat in the Third Congressional District.

“There comes a point when a person has to stop saying ‘someone should do something about this’ and actually step up to be that ‘someone,’” Massey said in a statement, referring to the recent federal stimulus legislation. “Folks, I’m just not willing to sit on the sidelines while Congressional politicians continue their spending spree and put us in more debt to foreign countries like China. The stakes are too high to sit around and ‘hope’ things will get better.

“After a great deal of encouragement from many of you, a lot of conversations with my wife Blair, and a good bit of prayer, I’ve decided to run for the U.S. Congress.”

The mailer that contains his announcement message goes on to say that Massey feels the need to stand up to the White House, Democratic leaders in the Congress and even some Republican congressmen for facilitating what he calls “the pork barrel spending that has run rampant in Congress over recent years.”

In January, Massey was the subject of one of WR’s “Anatomy of a Win” analyses. Running in a conservative, but Democratic, district, he beat popular Rep. Bill Clyburn in a special election and then fended off another Edgefield resident, Greg Anderson, in the general election last year.

So far, Massey is the first candidate to file for SC-03.

Shane Massey for Congress mailer (front)
Shane Massey for Congress mailer (back)