Rick Green [00:00:07] This is the Intersection of Faith and Culture. Thanks for joining us today on The WallBuilders Show. Rick Green here with David Barton and Tim Barton and our friend Chad Conley from Faith Wins. We appreciate you listening. Be sure and visit the websites today, wallbuilders.com and wallbuilders.show. Dot show for the radio program, dot com for everything else. We want to jump in immediately so we can get as much time with Chad as we possibly can. Of course, Chad, the loss of Lindsey Graham in the last 48 hours and a lot of political scrambling but we want to first take a few minutes. To just talk about the impact he had, not only on South Carolina, your home state, but on the country. 

Chad Connelly [00:00:40] You know, no doubt about it. This is a huge hole for not just the state, but the nation and, and, and our friends in Israel, the middle East, you know, I've spent a lot of time with Lindsay and it's amazing what he did behind the scenes that nobody knew Rick. He, I think he's the unsung hero of the Abraham Accords. I mean, that guy from humble beginnings, he was brought up in his, his house, which was above a liquor store, very blue collar, rural South Carolina, little tiny town. To becoming a congressman who helped lead impeachment hearings, to become a U S senator and sit with kings and sheiks and prime ministers discussing the direction of geopolitics. It's an amazing thing. This is a huge hole for South Carolina and for the nation. And let's face it for conservatives this was going to be the guy who was going be judiciary chairman in the next Senate in all likelihood. So big holes to fill y'all just really big shoes to fill. 

Rick Green [00:01:38] Yeah, and his impact on so many key issues. I mean, he's been right there at the forefront of so many different things over the last couple of decades. And of course, Chad, you saw the whole South Carolina side of that as well, so what he represented for your state. But like you said, the stuff that he was doing behind the scenes to help President Trump and so many of the things in the Middle East. And you know, look, there's been times I criticized Lindsey, just like there's been times I've criticized, you know, President Trump or maybe even you, Chad. I don't know. I criticize Tim more than I do David but you know, no seriously, I mean, you know we're honest brokers here. And so, we'd stand by principles. So sometimes we disagree on where those things would go. So all of that said though Just a phenomenal, phenomenal career and impact. How does, how does for South Carolina look at filling that gap? And then what does it mean for the Senate? We've got the SAVE Act; every vote counts right now. My understanding is he was in favor of the SAVE act and going forward with it without the filibuster. So, what does that do? There's just so much happening so fast right now. 

Chad Connelly [00:02:40] There's so much to unpack in it. And Lindsay, I don't know if y'all saw president Trump's statement and he was emotional. I mean, he was good friends. Lindsay's favorite line the last few years was after Trump put his cell phone out there when they were running against each other for president. Uh, and then Lindsay did a really funny ad about it. Uh, they became friends and Lindsay said, we found common ground. I like him and he likes him. And so, we, we, we found that we had common ground together and so they became fast friends. And I would say Lindsay became one of his most stalwart supporters. In, in all things Trump, he was pushing an America First agenda, a President Trump agenda. It leaves a big question mark in South Carolina. So, the governor gets to a point, someone. Who becomes basically a placeholder until the next Senator is elected. But let me, let me read you this ramp. This is fast. So, filing opens for the Senate seat. Oh, it's the, the statute, the state statutes of 7.11.50. It opens the second Tuesday after the trigger, either a resignation or a death of a sitting, dually elected member. Filing opens July 21st. That's a week from Tuesday y'all. Closes the following week. 

David Barton [00:03:55] Chad, hang on just a second. I don't know of any other state that would have people filing within two weeks of the death of an incumbent. That's got to be the fastest in the nation. I mean when you say that it just It's amazes me that that you don't even hardly have time to bury and look to see what he did before you've already got people filing which means the campaign is already going. That's crazy. So, two weeks after the death Wow, great. Wow 

Chad Connelly [00:04:24] And the primary is August 11th and the runoff is August the 25th. So, what had happened was like when Tim Scott replaced Jim Dement, I was chairman. Then I got like an hour notice before Jim Dement's press conference. He called and said, hey, I'm resigning. There's no scandal. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa...what do you mean you're resigning? And so the governor appointed Tim Scott. I'm sure he worked with Jim Dement in that case. Cause Jim was resigning, and then Tim went ahead and ran for the seat in that election. This election is happening fast. So, either a placeholder doesn't want to run, but it could happen that somebody becomes a place holder who does want to run. And then there's a, there's, there there's primary and people could run. Listen, y'all, I was on the phone by 6:30 AM this morning. Talking to my buddy, Drew McKissick, the state party chair, talking about the statute and how does the party handle this? But also, the ripple effect that what you just mentioned, David, that this is a big deal. And then Rick went into the questions of the SAVE Act. We've got the issue of the razor thin margins in the Senate and the House, because some of the people who would run for this and would fit well and would be good for the issues that we care about. I'm not sure we can afford to lose them in the US House. I think it would bring up another special election that would trigger another set of ripple effects, but I don't know if you heard Trump. Trump said that one of the last conversations they had last night, maybe within the hour of when Lindsay passed was about the SAVE Act. So, it was on Lindsay's mind. That guy was on top everything. 

Tim Barton [00:06:02] Hey Chad, so just like to help bring in some people to this. Who are some of the congressmen or women from South Carolina? That you think even though as you mentioned we wouldn't want to lose them in the house but maybe that's someone that could be a good senator. Who are some the people you see already in Congress or maybe even state Senate? Who are some of the names that you expect? Yeah, I see those names be thrown in the hat for this seat?

Chad Connelly [00:06:28] See, so we just had a very competitive governor's race, right? And Nancy Mace, who's a sitting congressman in CD one, congressional district one, I'm certain she'll run. Ralph Norman, who finished third and endorsed the eventual winner, Alan Wilson. Over the Lieutenant Governor and he was close. Ralph was really close. He's not, his name is being mentioned. Ralph and Nancy would leave the house. Now there's somebody running for Ralph's seat that's unopposed. My friend, West Climber, he'll be the congressman from the fifth district. There's a competitive race. There's a lady named Jenny Honeycutt, who's a friend of mine in Charleston, who is the Republican nominee running for Nancy Mace's seat. So Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman are two sitting congressman, but there's already a race there. The third one I'm hearing a lot about is Russell Frye. Russell was the county party chairman Horry County when I was state party chairman great guy, total conservative. And here's the other thing, Trump loves him. He is a Trump guy. When Trump was looking for somebody to run against Tom Rice, Russell Fry's has been kind of the guy who stepped into the fray and has been a conservative stronghold for Horry County and for the seventh congressional district. Then you got to think that the lieutenant governor, Pamela Evitt, who just lost the governor's race, she had Trump's endorsement, she the governor's endorsements, had a ton of money and lost the governor race. I would expect her name. There's four names right there. Now if you go to the placeholder I think you're probably looking, I know Trey Gowdy's names being pushed around. Trey doesn't want to do it, uh, but he loved Lindsay. They were golf player. They part play golf all the time. So that's five names I can think of. And there's some others that are being bandied about. I'm not sure how serious. 

Tim Barton [00:08:22] Now Chad, on air, I will not ask you who your favorite is, but knowing that Lindsey was someone who believed in the right to life of the unborn, you mentioned he was a friend of Israel, things that sometimes to the conservative movement, not all conservatives are champions for traditional values or always biblical values. It's not asking you to go on the spot necessarily for this, but how many of the people that are gonna throw their hat in the ring? How many of them are good on the issues? Now again, Rick, you already mentioned we might have had disagreements with Lindsay at times in specific areas People might have said look this guy likes or a little more than we do, right? Not to digress. But when it comes to some of the traditional values, Chad, how many these people are the same kind of traditional conservative that Lindsay was? Or do you see a reason to be concerned with some of these names that maybe they're not great on the life issue, maybe they are not great in Israel? Should Christians pay attention to some of the names that might be running for the Senate seat going forward? 

Chad Connelly [00:09:39] Christians should be very concerned. And I'll throw another name in there to continue the mix and confusion, but there are people talking about Nikki Haley may step in and run. So that's five rough, top of my head without really spends a lot of time. Listen, the last pastor meeting we did with, with Lindsay was right before his, um, the prop, the runoff, no, the primary in June. And we had 45 pastors had a great array. I think we had 15 denominations in the room that day. And there was one pastor in particular and I'll answer your question getting at it this way, Tim. One pastor, the guys don't like the guy, but Lindsey comes in and he talks about, I'm for unborn babies and for taking out terrorists. And the guy was like; I love this guy. And so, he was right on that stuff. And of course, conservative judges, the middle East, Israel being a staunch supporter of Israel and life, Lindsey was right on those things. Tim of those five, I'll just say that two would be fantastic for us. And things we care about, the, there are others in that mix that maybe not be as staunch, especially Israel and especially life, but those give me pause for the judges’ issue too. Yes, definite concern. 

David Barton [00:10:56] So we're just reporting here based on the record of those five, which are the two that you think best conform to basically conservative biblical worldview? 

Chad Connelly [00:11:07] Well, there's another piece here too. David, they gotta be liked by Trump. Right?  And so, I'm going to lead with that because unless you check the Trump box and that's going to be Russell Fry and Ralph Norman, I think would be the two that Trump would think would the conservative champions, the America first types. I that there's a lot of angst about the issues for some of the others. But I believe both Russell and Ralph would be staunch. And I think Trey would too. I just don't think Tray Gowdy has any interest in it whatsoever. I just, don't see it. 

Tim Barton [00:11:47] And Chad, just to clarify, we're not asking you to have a crystal ball. We are not asking to predict the future because obviously this is so fresh, you know, this just happened. 

Chad Connelly [00:11:58] 24 hours. Yeah.

Tim Barton [00:11:59] 24 hours ago, whatever that was it's, this is really, really raw. But you're someone who has been on the ground in South Carolina for a lot of years. You mentioned helping run the chairman of the state GOP. You know all of these players. You are either friends with or it's a very small, not even a one-degree separation, but like you know them. Maybe just got your hangout buddies so you are someone that to give us a lot of insight. But I know we have to take a break in a second. Rick, do we have time for another question? We need to go to break first? 

Rick Green [00:12:34] Well, since you brought it up, let's go ahead and do the break. And as we're going to break, one of the other things I'd love for us to talk about before the show's over, we just spent, well, we didn't spend, others spent, I think John Cornyn spent $150 million, apparently, in the Senate race in Texas, and I think Paxton spent like $20 million or something. But anyway, close to $200 million spent for the Texas seat. So this South Carolina seat, no telling what'll get spent in just a few weeks, but I don't think it'll be that much. Each Senate vote has the same amount of power and the same vote, so South Carolina might have a much easier path to this one just in terms of dollars. Anyway, we'll take a quick break. We'll come back to all those questions. Chad Conley, our special guest, folks. You're listening to The WallBuilders Show. 

Rick Green [00:14:20] Welcome back to the WallBuilders Show, thanks for staying with us. Chad Connolly with us, we're talking about, of course, the passing of Lindsey Graham and his service to the country and to the state of South Carolina, where Chad is from and has been in the trenches of the politics there for many decades. And just kind of trying to get our hands around how fast this thing's gonna happen. As David said before the break, I don't know of another state that does it this fast. I'm actually intrigued by that because it probably makes sense. You don't want your Senate seat empty for your state's representation any longer than it has to be. But I guess a lot of our states, it's, it can be an immediate appointment by the governor to, to take care of that, that short gap. But it is, it is really, really fast.

David Barton [00:14:59]  I'm going to jump in Chad gave us dates on trigger dates for how this happened. Give me week dates, how, from the time Lindsay died, how many weeks is it till you got it? How many weeks till the election? 

Chad Connelly [00:15:09] Now, so this is, this is quick. So, what will happen is Henry McMaster, the governor will probably appoint a replacement in the next few days. And, but the statute says the second Tuesday after the trigger. So, Lindsay's death was Saturday. So, a week from Tuesday, which is July 21st filing open, that's the second Tuesday, after the Trigger event. And then the filing closes the next Tuesday, the 28. Filings closed. Primary is August 11th. That's a Tuesday and the runoff is August 25th. So, we're what, what's that? 40 days y'all 40, about 40 days, the whole thing. So, but Henry Mack will have a replacement. He'll have an appointed replacement who'll be sworn in as a US Senator. I would think in a matter of a week, let's say 

David Barton [00:15:59] So the primary is like in five or six weeks, but then it'll go to the general. They won't have an actual person until after the general...Okay! Got it. So we're going all the way to November before we know for sure. 

Chad Connelly [00:16:11] Whoever wins this primary is going to be on our ballot instead of Lindsey Graham's name. So, the guy who just lost to Lindsey, Mark Lynch, I'm sure he runs too. There's six names off the top of my head. Now he's a constitutional conservative Christian. No question. I met with Mark as well. But Lindsey won that thing going away. But let's think about it. It's going to take some money. It's gonna take some name ID to win this, this. This could be a really intense, very, very short primary that hits and hits hard for the state. 

Tim Barton [00:16:44] Knowing South Carolina is a very red state, very strong red. With everything you do at Faith Wins. I think Rick, Dad, all of us have had a chance to travel with you to do some speaking with Faith Wins. And South Carolina, is not, I don't think one of the major target states you've had for Faith Wins for this fall. Does this change anything? And I know like this is again you've had 24/48 hours only to process what's going on. Does this add more to your schedule with the fall for Faith Wins? Not that you had any more time to give. But what impact does this have with all that you were already doing for faith wins?

Chad Connelly [00:17:33] So I think the answer is that it's going to get a lot more tension. Let's face it. I think that Dems will see an opportunity here against the weaker opponent, but the person they're running is, is, you know, pro-trans pro-LGBT plus, plus, plus, plus, totally pro-choice. Got a lot of problems. I've, I've seen the early oppo file on Annie Andrews and she's not a friend to anything the Bartons, or the Greens or the Connelly stand for, believe it. So, but I do think they'll see an opportunity to throw a lot of money in here. The great thing is, because we had an open governor's race and David, your dad and I talked about this, a senate race we had some congressional races. And we had a gambling consortium, put a ton of money into the governor's race to try to win a seat. We spent a lot of time here from January to June. We proved our model, Tim. We, we did 75 pastor meetings with over a thousand pastors from 15 different denominations in those six months. So, I now have pastors, you name the denomination and we did some, we did, some tracking. We did some data tracking. We can prove our model. And when we talked about issues that related to Christian values, biblical values, we proved we can move the needle. In fact, our research showed that 10% of Christian voters, the most reliable voting bloc, 10% didn't rely on digital ads or television ads or mailers. You know what they relied on? Their pastor. Now, you think about this, I'm taking this nationwide. I hadn't even told your dad. I haven't even put my research out because I'm putting into a forum to share with you guys. And we need to talk about this. I think it is the difference maker in all these races nationwide. And yes, I'm going to have you guys in my state as well. I already planned that because we're right beside Georgia. I think David's in Savannah. We're going to hop over into South Carolina. So yes, we're going do that. But when you think about the margins, most of these races on and we're If Lord will and I can raise enough money, I'm gonna have a dedicated pastor in 43 congressional seats our 43 congressional districts and seven U S Senate places that we're going to focus on to run up the score. If 10% of Christians rely on their pastor's advice and the margins in that, what three or four or five or 6%, that's the difference, we can make the difference in every one of those races, Tim. 

Tim Barton [00:20:00] And so for everybody listening and the reason we love guys like Chad Connelly, the reason why we partner so much with them, is because as Chad mentioned there's a proven track record. And as you just heard, he said if we have the money here's the plan. And so I would encourage everybody right now, Faith Wins, look up the organization, Faith Wins, go donate. Cause just like we talk about, what, what is happening with Patriot Academy and WallBuilders and the doors that God has opened to things God is allowing us to do. The difference is being made. We talk about the undercurrent of revival happening all over the nation. But one of the reasons that we partner with the people we partner with, is because they are people that follow God that are working to make a in this nation. And honestly, with Faith Wins, the last several months before the election, we don't schedule hardly anything for my dad. David Barton does not hardly speak for WallBuilders the last three months before an election. He speaks with Faith Wins. And he and Chad travel all over. Now Rick and I will do some things with Chad anytime we have availability or if my dad can't make it. But, for everybody listening you need to go support Faith Wins where you can because we can show literal data over the last several election cycles, where it was because of Faith Wins being on the ground in some of those areas. That's why the Christian conservative won in many of those area and races because what Chad is talking about is engaging pastors in that process. That is what caused so many of the Christians to turn out in those areas. Because when you engage the pastors, when pastors get on board, when pastors go, man, I want to do something, I wanna make a difference. You will see the needle shift on these races. And so what Chad is talking about for everybody listening right now, whether you're listening via podcast or some radio station, because we're all over the place. We would encourage you go to Faith Wins and support this effort. This is seed sown into good soil when you are donating to Faith Wins. So, highly, highly encourage that. And Dad, I saw you waving a second ago, so let me yield the plug for why everybody needs to donate to Faith Wins. And by the way, even the Bartons and the Greens, we are people that, we don't just encourage you to donate places. We are people who vote with our dollars, so we financially support Faith Wins as well. We ask you to do the same thing. Dad, knowing we're low on time, let me yield to you for another thought with Chad. 

Chad Connelly [00:22:40] Thanks, Tim. Appreciate you, brother. 

David Barton [00:22:42] I'm gonna promote Faith Wins in the same kind of way and that Chad let's, he post where these meetings are gonna be. And so check that list and if you live in that area or know pastors in that area get them to the meeting. Because Chad points that this is this is huge stuff. You know way back with Barna years ago We found that only 2.8 percent of pastors actually address the issues that are going on in the news. And so most pastors do not want to touch this at all. And what a pastor does as Chad pointed out, 10 percent of parishioners say hey we listen to our pastor on this. When you get that you get a pastor talking, you raise the  turnout. Chad's got so many examples from six years ago turning Virginia on its head in the right direction. All these things were pastors made the difference. So, as Tim pointed out, this is a great place to sow seeds, but also check the list of where all these events are gonna be. Chad, what? We got a hundred different pastors’ meetings between now the end of the year or whatever. Check that list. 

Chad Connelly [00:23:39] That's a lot. 

David Barton [00:23:40] See where we're gonna be and get pastors if you know if they're on your list if you have friends there, if you got kids or analogs or anything else get them to come to those meetings. 

Chad Connelly [00:23:49] Yeah,. 

[00:23:50] Chad is the best place to do that at faithwins.org? 

Chad Connelly [00:23:54] Yeah, that's right. 

Rick Green [00:23:55] And second question, are you still open to more events? Like if people want to bring you guys in, maybe 2026 is full, but, but certainly for 2028, can they contact you through the website to talk about partnering with you in their city? 

Chad Connelly [00:24:07] Yes, sir. Absolutely. They can do that. We're, we're lining up. You know, I've got a logistic logistician extraordinaire, Bob Crawford, who's making all the logistics work. And Tim, yeah, you're going to be with me some too, cause your dad's not available. Bob told me Friday. And so, but you know, I’m excited about it. Yeah. Go to faithwins.org. We're lining up stuff. We think we're going end up between 120, 125 pastor meetings between, you know, whenever we get started in the election and we're, we're just squeezing in everything, the hard parts getting to places, but we, we think we'll be in most of those 43 congressional districts that are in the competitive range. There's actually five in Texas, y'all, that we're going to be working in. I'll talk to you guys more about that, but the Senate race states, we're gonna be there, but I'm fired up that we've actually put a quantification. This, this 10% number that we just spent quite a bit of effort, just tagging the numbers. Following, tracking, doing the data mining, geofencing the churches that we know. Most people, the consultants, when they geofence churches, when they target churches, they target all churches. We only target known conservative, biblical churches. And we think that's a difference maker, but now we got numbers to prove it. I hadn't even told that publicly. I'm still putting the report together with our data team, but I will be talking about that soon. So. Thank y'all for the plug. We need it. And I'm looking forward to being with all you guys this fall and rest of the summer. 

Tim Barton [00:25:36] Well one thing too guys is encouraging in the midst of all that Faith Wins is doing. Chad as you mentioned there's five seats in Texas that y'all are going to engage in. Obviously then you have a Senate race with a Ken Paxson versus James Talarico. So many things going on. But guys, one of the encouraging things to me is when you are seeing the megachurches like a Josh Howerton saying we want to get involved because we want you help swing the needle. This is, again, one encouraging sign to me of part of the revival and hopefully the great awakening that we are in. When you have pastors waking up and say, we want to get involved culturally and recognizing that politics impacts so much of Christian life in these states, that politics matters to a Christian, that is super encouraging. And again, Faith Wins being on the ground all over. We are so excited, Chad, to partner with you for all of these big things coming up in the fall. 

Rick Green [00:26:33] FaithWins.org. 

Chad Connelly [00:26:35] Love you guys. I appreciate y'all more than y’all know. 

Rick Green [00:26:37] Chad, thank you man, appreciate you coming on, faithwins.org, faithwinds.org. You've been listening to The WallBuilders Show.