I am running for Berkeley County Council as a Democrat.

There. I said it plainly.

I have generally voted Democratic because, on many issues, that party has more closely reflected my views. But if all you need to know about me is the letter beside my name, then you don’t really know me at all.

And I believe that way of thinking—“red good, blue bad” or “blue good, red bad”—is hurting this country.

Our flag isn’t red or blue.
It’s red, white and blue.

Somewhere along the way, too many of us stopped asking, “Is this a good idea?” and started asking, “Which side said it?”

We stopped examining the argument and started examining the jersey.

We defend things we would condemn if the other party did them. We reject ideas we might otherwise support because the wrong person proposed them. And sometimes we know something doesn’t make sense, but we stay quiet because speaking up might upset our own side.

That isn’t leadership.
And it isn’t common sense.

County problems don’t ask for your party registration

A flooded street isn’t Republican or Democratic.
Neither is an ambulance stuck in traffic.
Neither is an overcrowded classroom.

Neither is a pothole, an unsafe intersection, an overburdened fire station, a development agreement, a drainage pond or a family sitting through four traffic lights trying to get home.

Those problems don’t check whether you’re red or blue before they affect you.
They simply need to be solved.

County Council’s work involves ordinances, public policy and decisions that become part of the County’s permanent public record. South Carolina law requires Council’s legislative actions to proceed through public ordinances and recorded proceedings (S.C. Code of Laws, Title 4, Chapter 9).

When I look at a County issue, that’s where I want to begin:

What are the facts?
What does the document actually say?
What will it cost?
Who benefits?
Who pays?
What happens five, ten or twenty years from now?

And most importantly:

Does it make sense for the people I represent?

I don’t need a red answer or a blue answer.
I need the right answer.

If a Republican Council member has a good idea for District 6, I can support it.
If a Democrat has a bad idea, I can oppose it.
If the developer is right, I’ll say the developer is right.
If the County is right, I’ll say the County is right.

And if I challenge something and the evidence later proves me wrong, I should have enough integrity to say that too.

You have already seen me do exactly that with Lake Village.

I raised questions.
I filed FOIA requests.
I read the documents.
I challenged what I believed needed challenging.

But when the final agreement genuinely improved — stronger Windwood protections, a wider buffer and preserve, data centers banned, commitments made binding — I said so publicly. And where questions still stand, I’ve kept asking.

That’s not weakness.
That’s what I believe public service is supposed to look like.

Country before color. Community before party.

Political parties have a legitimate place in American government. They organize people around ideas and values. I am not pretending otherwise.

But a political party should be a starting point for understanding a candidate—not a substitute for understanding one.

I don’t want your vote simply because you are a Democrat.
And I don’t want you to reject me simply because you are a Republican.

Look at my work.
Look at the questions I’ve asked.
Look at what I’ve researched.
Look at how I treat people who disagree with me.
Look at whether I admit when the evidence changes my position.
Look at what I believe County government should do.

Then make your own decision.
That is what an informed voter is supposed to do.

We have more in common than our politics sometimes allows us to remember.

We may disagree about Washington.

We may disagree about presidents, Congress, taxes, immigration, guns, abortion, health care and a hundred other national issues.

But we’re still sitting in the same traffic.
Our children attend the same schools.
The same firefighters and paramedics answer our calls.
The same stormwater flows through our neighborhoods.
The same County Council votes affect our property, roads and communities.

And after Election Day, we’re still neighbors.

I don’t want to represent only the blue households in District 6.
If elected, I would represent District 6.
Period.

People who voted for me.
People who voted against me.
Republicans.
Democrats.
Independents.
And people who are completely tired of all of us talking about politics.

Common sense requires the freedom to disagree—even with your own side.

Hold me accountable.
Question me.
Read behind me.
Challenge my numbers.
Ask for my sources.
And if I’m wrong, expect me to correct it.

But don’t ask me to stop thinking because somebody handed me a red jersey or a blue one.

RED. WHITE. AND BLUE.

That’s the country I want back.

Not a country where everybody agrees.
America has never been that.

I want a country where we can disagree without becoming enemies, where facts still matter after we discover which party benefits from them, and where a good idea doesn’t become a bad idea simply because it came from the other side.

And I want that same spirit on Berkeley County Council.

You will see Democrat beside my name on the ballot.
Now you know what that does—and does not—mean to me.

I am asking you to look beyond the letter.
Look at the work.
Look at the record.
Look at the issues.
Then make your own decision.

Because Berkeley County doesn’t need more red-versus-blue government. It needs people willing to do the homework, ask the questions, listen to the answers and exercise some common sense.

Red. White. And Blue.
Let’s get it back.