Rubbing elbows with Republican Party stalwarts, Anson County’s state senator took in last week’s GOP presidential debate and came away with renewed respect for each of the seven candidates on the main stage.
Sen. Tom McInnis, R-Richmond, attended the Jan. 14 Fox Business debate in North Charleston, South Carolina as a guest of Ellerbe native Willie McRae, whose historic Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant was featured in the primetime broadcast.
“I didn’t have a favorite going in and don’t have a favorite now,” McInnis said. “I’m very proud of everyone we have running on our side of the aisle. Everybody brings something to the table.”
McInnis spoke with South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford, the state’s former governor, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham, who suspended his presidential campaign in December, and former senator Rick Santorum, who is running for the GOP nomination and fielded questions in the undercard debate.
Front-runner Donald Trump has been unfairly criticized for his frank remarks on immigration and national security, McInnis said — comments some pundits pan as racist and xenophobic. Trump has famously vowed to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and says he’ll lean on the Mexican government to bear the expense.
“Let’s call it what it is instead of trying to be politically correct on everything,” McInnis said. “On sealing the border, I think that Donald Trump is absolutely right on point. Before we do anything with immigration, to work through the process of the illegal immigrants who are here and those who are doing the right thing and wanting to pursue the American dream, we’ve got to seal that border first.”
McInnis also shares Trump’s concerns on global trade, the ballooning national debt and the inflation of foreign currencies competing with the dollar.
“Our biggest creditor is Japan and China,” McInnis said. “They own a lot of our federal debt and our U.S. treasury bills. We need to have a good understanding of what the downside of that is. We need someone who can negotiate not only in good faith, but from a position of strength. I have to take my hat off to Donald Trump. He would bring that to the table.”
Among Trump’s most controversial policies is his call for a temporary halt on Muslims entering the United States, citing the threat of radical Islamist terrorism. His Republican rivals say immigrants should be vetted but have rejected a religious test for entry.
McInnis echoed U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, who has said stricter screening measures should be put in place before refugees from war-torn Syria are admitted.
“We need to temper justice with mercy,” McInnis said. “At some point in time, we’ve got to hold our hand up and say no until the vetting process is secure, complete and leaves no stone unturned.”
Included in the marquee debate were Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich. Rand Paul was offered a slot in the early debate with Santorum, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee but declined in protest after missing the cut for the main stage.
Paul, the junior Kentucky senator courting libertarian-leaning Republicans, “brings some great questions and some great discussions to the table,” McInnis said.
Respondents to a U.S. News & World Report poll said Paul won the undercard debate in absentia. His supporters briefly interrupted the main debate with chants of “We want Rand!”
While McInnis said he’s impressed with each of the candidates, he believes none has found the silver bullet to overhaul the U.S. tax code.
“I think the best tax plan is yet to be unveiled,” he said. “A simpler tax plan will help us get through these challenges.”
McInnis said another unsettled policy question in the Republican field is whether President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform can be satisfactorily revised or if Obamacare should be repealed and replaced.
“That one is the $64,000 question, or better yet, the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” he said. “It definitely has to be tweaked and massaged if we keep it. If we don’t keep it, we need to come up with a better plan. If, in fact, it does get replaced, it must take care of the least of those in our country and it must be affordable to everybody.”
McInnis said the uneven recovery from the Great Recession discussed during the debate mirrors conditions in North Carolina, where he serves as an advocate for rural growth and development in the General Assembly.
“Our metropolitan areas are doing quite well while our rural areas like Richmond County, Scotland County and Anson County in my district are still suffering,” he said. We need to make sure the Carolina Comeback applies not only to Raleigh and Durham and Charlotte, but applies from Manteo to Murphy and every place in between.”
With North Carolina’s primary moved from May to March 15, the Tar Heel State is expected to play a greater role in the 2016 presidential nomination. McInnis said the College Republicans student club at Richmond Community College has invited all GOP hopefuls to the Hamlet campus.
“The jury’s still out on whether we get one in Richmond County or not,” he said, “but if we did, I certainly would not be surprised.”
A Civitas Institute poll released Thursday shows Trump in the lead among North Carolina’s likely Republican primary voters with 27 percent support. Cruz follows with 23 percent, Rubio is in third with 10 percent, Carson has 7 percent and Bush and Christie are tied with 4 percent each.
Huckabee, Fiorina, Paul and Kasich each polled at 2 percent, with Santorum receiving 1 percent support.
“I will not be endorsing any Republican presidential candidate until after the election,” McInnis said, “and whoever he or she is, I will be supporting our Republican nominee without reservation. Every one of them brings something to the table.”
Reach Editor Corey Friedman at 910-817-2670 and follow him on Twitter @corey_friedman.
