SENATE GOP CANDIDATE PATRICK HERRMANN STOPS BY 6/8/26

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Spoken to this man before. His name is Patrick Herman. You'll see him listed as Pat Herman. That's two R's, two N's, for those of you who are counting. He is running for U.S. Senate in the primary against the incumbent Lindsey Graham and a host of other GOP candidates. Good morning, Patrick, and welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Good morning.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

So I've actually kayaked at your house.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

So full disclosure, I've been to Patrick Herman's park.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Yes, I saw.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Yeah, yeah. There's alligators and then there are swamps.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

There are. And beavers.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Oh, and beavers. They close lots of problems. A lot of people complain about beavers around here causing floods. So, Patrick Herman, you've run for office before.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

A state or a county office. It was a state. Or a state office.

SPEAKER_00 0:47

It was for a state house. District 61 against Carla Schusler. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Okay. That's right. And uh actually that was your district, right, Nick? Yeah. It was a new district.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

It was a new district. No, that's right. But she had uh she was the incumbent, so she had it for two years, and I ran against her and Shannon Grady.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

All right, very good. All right, so now you're running, you've decided to run for Senate. So tell us a little bit about how that came to be.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

All right, sounds good. So uh there's a I've got a lot of good stories here. And so which one do you you know, do you tell the long one or the short one? So I'm gonna tell the short one. Okay. All right. So look, I saw a video. Uh we had the Carolina Forest Fires, right? Yeah. And so Lindsey Graham came down. I didn't, I wasn't there in person, but I saw the video and he was talking, right? It was getting close to campaign time. So he comes down every six years, right? He wants or five years, he wants to talk, he wants to be seen in the county. So he came down and uh there were protesters out there as he's talking to the news station. There weren't a lot of protesters, there were a few, maybe 10 or 15. And you can see the video on YouTube. And so they're they're they're uh saying town hall, town hall, and he's getting a little bothered by it. And so Lindsey Graham says, I don't need a town hall, I know what to do. And that was that was a point.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Yeah. And I said, Wow, very condescending point.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Even though those were probably planted liberals, his response to them was I I don't think they're planted because I saw some of them were my customers for my cleaning restoration business. Oh, and there weren't a lot of them. And so that may be what they said, but I don't agree with that at all whatsoever. But um it's look, when someone says that, that's a problem. Yeah. And and so look, Lindsey Graham had an event in Greenwood, and I drove four and a half hours because I wanted I'm a constituent too, right? So I should be able to go. So I went there and they wouldn't let me in the door. Really? Yeah, and I said, Look, I'll be polite cordial, I won't, you know, heckle or ask questions. And they're like, No, you can't. So I why? Because they don't want people to. I mean, you saw all his talks in different places in South Carolina, they all boo him and yell, and he's got a lot of haters.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

I mean, even Trump has well, I think Trump has endorsed him.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

And and and when people boo him, every time Trump brings him up in South Carolina, he's like, Come on, we need him to talk to the liberals. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 3:10

It's embarrassing. I mean, it's embarrassing. The people, he's not very popular at all.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

There's a lot of things embarrassing about South Carolina politics.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Yeah, that's right. So, but he came down to the Veterans Cafe and I was like, ooh, I'm gonna get a ticket because I'm an executive committee man at H G O P. I'm gonna get a ticket. So I got a digital ticket. I showed up and they said, We're sorry you can't come in. Now they were polite, so you know, they weren't rude or anything like that. They were professional like they should be. And uh, but they're you can't come in. I said, Look, I'll be polite cordial, I won't ask questions. I just I'm a constituent too. They said no. I said, I have a ticket, no. I said, Well, let me tell you something. There's an event at Journey Church right right after this. He's speaking, and they're like, Well, that's not our event. And I said, Well, I I'm going. Are you okay with it? And they said, Yes, but it's not our event. I said, Well, let me tell you something. I'll be polite, cordial, I won't heckle, I won't ask any questions. And and they they just looked at me. But I went to Journey Church, I was able to sit in there. The preacher came up to me. He's like, By the way, they sent me a message. They said you better be polite cordial, not heckle. And of course I was, and he did a good job, and it was a pro-Israel talk. Right. And then he talked a little bit about his campaign, saying how we were gonna lose two Supreme Court justices and he was gonna be on the judicial committee.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Well, I mean, that's one of the things that they say is that he has so much um clout that you know, that that's why Trump wants him in and some people keep voting him in, is because he has some very powerful committee positions.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

All right, so he's got the clout, but if you look at that position on judicial committee, it's a it's if we're in majority, the the position he would take would um and let's just say he wasn't elected as our next U.S. Senator is still a Republican position. So another Republican will be put in that position. So it's not like we have to have Lindsey Graham, we can have a different Republican senator in that position. It's not a big deal, but he makes it as if he's the only option.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

Okay, and before we we continue on, I I also wanted to um make sure we get in your platform points because we want to give people a reason to vote, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

Right, sure.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

So why vote for Patrick Herman for U.S. Senate?

SPEAKER_00 5:17

All right. So the f first of all in our county, um, I'm the first candidate to run for U.S. Senate in 225 years, which is if you like history, it's kind of cool. Yeah. Um and I'm also the first candidate in the history of the United States of America to author three bills prior to being elected as your next U.S. Senator. Okay. Um and that you know, that's assuming I become a senator. But um, and what's cool about that is my talking points on everything are from my constituents. And so they come up to me and they tell me problems. So here's one. I went to the bank to make a deposit, and there's a recruiting office next door. And the one of the military guys said, Hey, uh cool pickup truck. I like your truck. So we started chatting. I said, Hey, I'm running for U.S. Senate. Do you have any concerns? He said, Let me tell you something. I got a big problem. I said, What's the problem? He's like, I'm in the high school all the time. I'm in the high school recruiting every day, and we're not allowed to carry our firearms. And I was like, What?

SPEAKER_02 6:08

So highly trained, but it's a soft target.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

And he's been trained for that type of situation.

SPEAKER_02 6:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

I said, Well, what do you do? He's like, Well, I got scissors and a pencil. That doesn't help. Wow, if someone comes in with a gun, how's that gonna help? Right. Right, right. He's like, and there, I'm there all the time. And he's like, I'm like, so you need to be able to carry. He's like, Absolutely. Well, I said, let me work on that. So I called it, I authored a bill, it's called the Herminator Act that'll give our uh our military staff that's trained, they have to be trained, it's just not anybody to be able to defend our children. And I think that's important. And I mean that's a really big deal. And look, it doesn't cost taxpayers any more money for him to have his sidearm on him, you know, as long as that he's highly trained in carrier, highly trained, wait better trained than the teachers, right? So absolutely. So that's just one of the acts that I authored, and and that's what I'm doing. So I'm talking to constituents, they're giving me their problems, I'm talking about, but none of the other candidates are talking about the constituents.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

What are the what are the problems that you hear?

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Okay, well, that's you know, that's one of them. But uh the fishermen, how about this? Now I started talking about this for 35 days. So fishermen go out, diesel prices are high, right? So fishermen will go out, they can only catch 75 pounds of red snapper over a short period of time, but diesel prices are too expensive. But what happens is you got the foreign fishermen that come in our waters, they'll take two or three thousand pounds of red snapper. And when they see the Coast Guard, they take off. Uh-huh. So our fishermen are working hard and they're quitting because they can't get pull enough fish. So that needs to change 75 to 500 pounds. Well, guess what? When I started talking about that, guess who started talking about it? President Trump. And he made an order and he said we need to extend the fishing season. We need we also need to extend the amount of fish our fishermen can catch. So that's just one of the things that we're talking about. And there are a lot of other things that we're gonna talk about, like my expertise. So all the other candidates, what are their expertise and how are they applying it to U.S. Senate? They're not, they have no expertise, they got these campaign manager talking points, and that's it. So I do cleaning and restoration, I do water damage. Your house floods. I go in, I take out all the poop, I take out all the mud, I clean out all the drywall, I clean it, I dry it, I rebuild it, okay, and then I deal with NFIP. Well, NFIP flood insurance pays 50 cents on the dollar. So if you have a problem, and we all use Xactimate, which is the industry standard for that, they don't accept that. So if you're a homeowner and you listen, and you they're not paying for something, you gotta pay your deductible, and then you gotta pay for my service to dry underneath your house out because your LVLs are wet, they won't pay to dry that. So that could be another five, ten, twenty grand. So you gotta write. So, but no one else is using the expert their expertise, they're just using campaign manager talking points. So put me on the NFIP, put me on the FEMA, let me make a difference with an expertise that I have because no one on those A committees, the top committees, know what they're talking about as far as that goes, but I do.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

Okay, we're speaking with Patrick Herman. He is running, uh, he's a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against uh a host of other candidates, but um namely the incumbent Lindsay Graham. So what have you learned about this process and what is what is your main goal uh to as senator? What would you be focusing on?

SPEAKER_00 9:34

All right, so what can you do? You don't know as a junior senator, you don't know what a committees you're gonna be on, you don't know where they're gonna place you because you get a leftover committee. So most likely they put me on a B committee, which is like entrepreneurial, small business. Hopefully, a committee I would be dealing with FEMA, that would be the goal. Um, you can be on unlimited C committees, but what can I do from day one? So let me tell you some little story here. Tony Ayer's from Socus D, he's a veteran assistant. He called me up, he said, I got questions for you. I'm like, Who are you? And uh so he asked me a hundred questions. He said, Well, I got a problem. I said, What's your problem? He said, I help veterans with their disability.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

And I've taken from 10% to 100% or 50% or whatever they're qualified for. They're too old, they don't understand the paperwork, they don't understand the process. I make 150 bucks a week, but I'm helping our veterans. But let me tell you a story. So, what's the story? He said, When I call Lindsey Graham's office, I don't get calls back. He doesn't help me help veterans. He said, I need someone that's gonna help me and help veterans. He said, Tim Scott, he does okay, but he doesn't do a really good job. He's like, I need someone that's gonna help veterans. I said, I'm gonna help you with veterans. I said, 100%, I'll make that happen. So what am I gonna do? You ask me a question. What are you gonna do? Well, first day, day one, okay, I want to offer not just constituent services, I want first class constituent services. Lindsey Graham is having closed door events. He's not if you have access to those events, he doesn't allow questions. I want open door policy, I want everybody to talk to me, and I want to talk to them. That's what it's about. First class constituent services, that's one thing I can do from day one. Then no one else is talking about, no one else is talking about constituents at all. I'm the only one out of all the other candidates, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

I want to ask you something, Patrick, because um there are a lot of people that are just gonna hold their nose and vote for Lindsey Graham.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

I I don't think.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

So, what sets you apart from the other candidates that are running against Lindsey Graham?

SPEAKER_00 11:32

All right, that's a good question. So look, the when you hear the other candidates talk and you look at the history of of what they've done in the past and and the consequences of that affecting their possibility of being a U.S. senator, they would be sidelined.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

So All right, well, let's talk about Mark Lynch's That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, that's what you're talking about. So we actually Nick interviewed him, and Nick, you would have some information about this.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

I'd asked him, and all attack ads, you know, they bend the truth, you know. Like we talked about the Rom ready one. He wasn't it's a wrong Rom ready. He didn't even live in New York, but they're using it because it said Rom ready. They're attacking him, that's right. Right. So the Mark Lynch thing, he said, yeah, I did uh I did the cocaine thing. I wasn't a habitual user, but it was enough to get me in trouble. And since the early 80s, my wife and I built this uh recovery program thing, which we've been running ever since. I love it. Right. And he said, but they act like I was multiple this and I wanted, you know, to legalize cocaine. He said, There's nothing further from the truth.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

He's right. That's right. So they're attacking him for the wrong reasons. I'm attacking for the right reasons. So he has post on Twitter where he says, all trans homos, Jews, or not Jews, I'm sorry, uh trans uh homos, lesbians are all the devil, they're all evil. And I've posted this and shared this. Now, that's not very senatorial, like and if you beat Lindsey Graham and you go to the runoff to run against Andy Andrews, the Democrat, there's no way he's gonna win. She's gonna destroy him just on those comments. And then you got the woman behind him, and so uh this is unbelievable. And I posted this uh on on Saturday or Sunday. I got some calls from defense contractors that are in the race as super PECs, and they said, What is this? I said, Look, this is absolutely ridiculous. Mark Lynch's wife attacks me online, and I try not to respond every once in a while to do, and finally I broke. So I let it loose on Saturday or Sunday. And so she was talking to a voter on one of these dump Lindsay Facebook pages, and she said, You need to pack your bags and go to the death camps. This is Mark Lynch's wife. And I'm like, this is really they are extreme. They are extreme. Look, folks, these they are extreme. He does not belong at all as a U.S. Senator. He will fail. He won't even win the November race at all, general election. There's no way possible.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Um, and and do you believe that you can beat that Democrat?

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Oh, absolutely. And the answer is absolutely, I don't think Lindsey Graham can beat her. I mean, she's raised what, seven to ten million dollars. That doctor? The doctor, and she's I mean, she's an extremist too. Have you seen her talk every other word as a cuss word?

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Yeah, she's not, does not re represent my values. Me either.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

All right, Patrick. Uh, you have a few minutes, uh, a few seconds here to ask for the vote.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

Uh cool, sounds good. Folks, my name is Patrick Herman. I'm running for the United States Senate. You can check me out on Facebook, my webpage, votepat.us. Look, I am talking about constituents' problems, and no one else is, and that's what I'm all about. I want to help constituents and fix their problems, offer first class constituent services. I'm just a blue-collar worker here to help you out.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

All right. And your website again?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

votepat.us.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

All right. And you'll find him on the sample ballot. If you look that up at scvotes.gov, you'll see him listed as Pat Herman. That's two R's, two N's. Thank you so much, Patrick Herman. It's great to see you again, and good luck to you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Thank you.