But Monday, he endorsed a candidate for U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan’s seat in District 3: Mark Burns.
Burns is no stranger to Trump’s inner circle. In his endorsement message on Truth Social, Trump said Burns has “been with me from the very beginning of our Movement to Make America Great Again.”
Burns often introduced Trump at his rallies and helped organize meetings between Trump and Black pastors before his presidency in 2017. Burns, a preacher in Easley, became a close ally to the Trump team as he campaigned in 2016.
Burns unsuccessfully ran for the S.C. Congressional District 4 race in 2018 and 2022. Federal law only requires candidates to live in a state, not within the district they represent.
Burns is running against a crowded Republican field. One of his opponents is South Carolina House Freedom Caucus member Stewart Jones. Jones has championed a conservative record as one of the original members of the Freedom Caucus in the South Carolina State House. He has pushed legislation in the House to ban gender transition surgery and condemn federal vaccine mandates.
In Trump’s endorsement, he said while “there are many great Conservatives exploring a run for that seat,” that Burns was “an America First Fighter, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement — He is a Good Man, a Hard Worker, and will not let you down!”
Burns has a history of aggressive rhetoric toward the LGBTQ+ community, and called for the execution and arrest of parents and those who support LGBTQ+ rights and protection of transgender children.
“We should start putting some of those parents in jail for abusing their child’s minds, and especially in the school system,” Burns said on the The Stew Peters Show in 2022. “Any teacher is teaching that LGBT, transgenderism, flurries, the groomers, any sexual orientation communication in the school system should be immediately terminated but also be held for abusing young children. Our children should not be born to be indoctrinated. That is 1922 Nazi Germany all over again.”
He then went on to say he would reenact the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was known for prosecuting communists in the late 1940s and ‘50s under Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Burns said he would be holding “people for treason, start having some public hearings, and start executing people who are found guilty for their treasonous acts against the Constitution of the United States of America.”
Burns also said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham “should be held accountable for treason for supporting Joe Biden’s gun-grabbing Second Amendment law that he is trying to push forward,” Newsweek reported.
Kevin Bishop, who served as a communications director for Graham, is also running for District 3.
In an interview with the State, Burns said the clip was taken out of context, and that it was sliced up to sound like how “they wanted it to sound.”
“My stance on the LGBTQ community is not one of hate,” Burns said. “My stance on them is they need to be saved. I am a sinner. My sins are no different from theirs. We all need to repent. We essentially created government without god. I don’t have a vendetta against the LGBTQ+ community”.
However, he said the destruction of the traditional American family is not a good thing, and believes there is LGBTQ+ agendas being pushed in the public school system.
Burns said his campaign has a lot to do with assisting Trump and ensuring he is back in office. He said if he were to be elected, he would push for legislation securing the border, ensuring violent criminals don’t come in, re-boosting the economy and fighting the “woke” agenda.
Even though Trump endorsed him, there is still lots of work to be done, he said. He added he is “excited” to win the “hearts and votes,” of South Carolinians. He added that the endorsement from Trump was not a surprise, but it wasn’t a quick decision either.
Trump did not endorse Burns the last two times he ran, instead endorsing Duncan, the sitting congressman.
Burns said while he ran for the fourth district last time, his home was actually in the third district, where he attended elementary, middle and high school, and his family still resides.
In 2016, Burns admitted to falsifying some professional accomplishments to a CNN anchor when confronted. He had listed on his church’s website that he served six years in the Army Reserve and had a Bachelor of Science degree. But he was never in the Army Reserve, he was in the national guard and was discharged in 2008, and he only attended the North Greenville University for one semester. Burns said the website page had “obviously” been hacked or manipulated, CNN reported.
Burns said this was a “very, very old,” statement and situation, and was well documented, and it happened on CNN, which he added was very liberal. He said he believes it happened because he was going against the liberal agenda and his closeness to Trump.
“We all had some crazy chapters in our lives.”
In 2018, the Post and Courier interviewed Burns, then running for S.C. 4th Congressional district, and told the paper about his tumultuous childhood, car repossessions, four arrests and three attempts to get through college.
He said it was because of Trump he became a Republican, as he was formerly a Democrat.