Second Congressional District preview: Joe Wilson seeks 10th term in race against Adair Boroughs

Wilson has served South Carolina's Second Congressional District since 2001

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Election Day is just around the corner, and the race for South Carolina’s Second Congressional District seat is heating up.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) has held the seat for nearly two decades, but has been out-raised by his competitor, Democrat Adair Boroughs.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) once quipped at a Columbia Rotary club event that if there’s an event with two or more people, then Wilson will be there. As he goes for a tenth straight victory, Wilson wants people to know he’ll be fighting to lessen the load of a growing government.

“I’m keenly supportive of limited government and expanded freedom. I’m very concerned about the growth of the government, particularly for the young people in our country,” said Wilson. “They’re going to be saddled with the debts that are being incurred right now.”

However, Wilson’s quest for a tenth House term might be his most challenging.

As of today, election filings show his opponent, Democrat Adair Boroughs, out-raising him by nearly one-million dollars.

Boroughs, an attorney from Barnwell County, says it’s time for change.

“What happens sometimes when people are in office for too long, is they become different, they become beholden to deep-pocketed interests in DC,” Boroughs told ABC Columbia. “My opponent has, most of his money has come from large corporate PAC’s, and he votes with them every time instead of the people in his district.”

Both candidates differ on various issues, including the role of the federal government in aiding economic recovery and the future of the Affordable Care Act.

Some politicians are calling for Supreme Court reform now that Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation gives a clear majority to conservative justices.

Boroughs says she supports some reform initiatives, like electing a new justice every two years or moving older justices to smaller courts, but says the real victory will be if both sides come together.

“You get in a game of tit-for-tat, and you’re in that game of tit-for-tat for a long time until both sides at the same time figure out ‘wow, we’ll actually be better off if we cooperate,'” Boroughs said. 

Wilson on the other hand, says it will disrupt politics as we know it if Democrats want more liberal justices on the Court.

“Well that would make Congress irrelevant, and these are lifetime appointments and not people who are being elected, and so, sadly to me, the efforts that are being made would subvert the institutions that work,” Wilson said. 

The Second Congressional District is comprised of all of Lexington, Aiken, and Barnwell Counties, with parts of Orangeburg and Richland Counties.

Dating back to 2000, the majority of voters in the district have voted in favor of Republican presidential candidates. In 2016, 56% of voters cast their votes in favor of President Donald Trump.

If Boroughs defeats Wilson, she’d be the second woman to hold the seat (Corinne Boyd Riley finished out the term of her late husband, John Jacob Riley, from 1962-1963), and the first Democrat to represent the district since 1965.

For a more detailed overview of what the candidates think about certain issues, click here.