Pelion, SC (Paul Kirby) – Ryan McCabe, an attorney with an office in Columbia, is challenging incumbent Kit Spires for SC House District 96’s seat. Both men are Republicans. This seat represents the Pelion, Fairview, Swansea, and Boiling Springs areas of Lexington County as well as parts of the Edmund, Gaston, White Knoll, and the Pond Branch communities.
McCabe, 47, says he moved to the Midlands 20 years ago from Clarendon County. He grew up in Manning. He has been married to Jennifer for 20 years and the couple have five children. He first moved to Lexington in 2001 and then out into a more rural area of the county several years ago. They now live near the intersection of Calks Ferry and Old Charleston Roads between Pelion and Boiling Springs.
In his law practice, his primary focus is representing land and condominium developers. He also does a lot of construction law and litigation as well.
McCabe says that when he was in the 5th grade, he knew he wanted to be in the SC Legislature one day. He ran for office in 2000 right out of law school but was defeated. To him, that was youthful exuberance and a chance to get his feet wet. Now, he thinks it’s the right time in his life to serve South Carolina as a member of the house.
According to McCabe, he has strong conservative values and believes government should have a minimal role in the lives of Americans. McCabe said the government should only provide essential services and the needs of each state should be handled there. He supports the right to life and the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the right for Americans to keep and bear arms. He also believes in term limits. “Our current system without term limits allows for too much power to be in the hands of a few legislators that have been at the state house for years,” McCabe stated. “Term limits would change that and remove the career politicians from the process.” He also believes that legislatures who serve too long build strong relationships with lobbyist that then exert their employers influence into the political process.
McCabe said that SC is facing some very serious financial obligations that we will one day have to deal with. He pointed to our state retirement fund as an example. He says that is dangerously underfunded. “When these bills come due as it probably will when the baby-boomers begin to retire, drastic and unfair action will be needed. Either former employees' benefits we have promised will need to be cut, or taxpayers will be made to bail the system out with a large tax increase. This is not an entitlement, rather it’s an obligation and a promise we made. People who worked for years for less pay than they would make in the private sector have given their lives serving the state. They did this thinking they would have good benefits after retirement. We have to stop ignoring this as the legislature has done for years and fix the problem.”
He went on to say that the roads in our state could have been repaired without raising our gas tax. “All it would have taken is responsible spending to do that.” He also said that the state is currently sitting on over $500 million dollars for road repairs that should be in use right now. “Look at the roads in District 96! I’m sure people will agree that we need to speed up the equitable funding of road repairs in our state.”
To learn more about Ryan McCabe, look at his social media page and website. He also welcomes your calls on his cell phone or you may contact him by e-mail. Find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RyanMcCabeSC. There’s also much more of his thoughts about government on his website at www.voteryanmccabe.com. His e-mail address is d.ryan.mccabe@gmail.com and his phone number is 803-530-3084.
