In South Carolina, an ugly fight over the Confederate flag has once again reached the campaign trail.
Sheri Few is one of seven GOP candidates in a special election for an open US House seat, and is causing a stir after posting a video advertisement to Facebook attacking current front-runners — and fellow Republicans — Tommy Pope and Ralph Norman for supporting former Gov. Nikki Haley in taking down the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds in 2015 after it flew for a half-century.
“It’s time for people to stand up and stop political correctness,” Few said in the video advertisement, blasting her fellow Republicans for “starting a war on our history.”
CNN has reached out to Pope and Norman for comment and has not yet received a response.
The race is for the state’s 5th congressional district, being held to replace former Rep. Mick Mulvaney, who stepped down to serve as the Office of Management and Budget Director in President Donald Trump’s administration.
The primary is set for May 2, with a runoff if necessary on May 16 before the general election on June 20.
Haley, who served as governor before becoming the US Ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, signed a bill that took down the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds in summer 2015 following a deadly shooting by white supremacist Dylann Roof — who killed nine African-Americans parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. The bill had bipartisan support, with just 30 lawmakers out of 159 voting in opposition.
“This is what we don’t need in Congress, someone who is going to be politically correct, blaming inanimate objects for a tragic homicide,” Few told CNN. “It wasn’t the flag nor a gun, it was the deranged and sick young man that killed those people.”
She calls the removal of the flag a “knee-jerk reaction” by politicians from both sides of the aisle that was rushed after the tragedy.
“Nikki Haley wanted desperately to be a vice presidential pick so she wanted the attention of removing the flag from the Statehouse grounds,” Few said. “I’m just trying to demonstrate to voters that these are weak politicians who cave to political correctness.”
Few says members of her district, which includes the suburbs of Charlotte and areas north of the capital city of Columbia, are in agreement with her stance on the flag, though she did not offer polling to support this claim.
After the vote in the state house to take down the flag in 2015, 57% of Americans saw the Confederate flag more as a symbol of Southern pride than of racism, a CNN/ORC poll shows.
Few, who previously ran for state superintendent of education, said she supports removing federal oversight from public education, eliminating the Department of Education, and getting rid of “liberal indoctrination” in schools.
“They have dumbed down the curriculum and they’ve got political correctness and talk about global warming as if it were a fact. They are teaching young children to be anti-American, pro-Muslim, anti-government. We have taught children over the last several decades that America is a bad place and bad people and we oppress people,” Few said.
The South Carolina Republican Party said they are not endorsing any candidate in the race, but they have offered all of their resources to every candidate in the race.
“Each candidate is entitled to his or her own strategy,” South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore says. “Voters are looking for someone who will work with President Trump and his administration, but is also willing to think for themselves.”
Few says she is getting a lot of negative reaction from across the country for her ads and strong stances, but that the feedback from voters in her district is positive.
“Most of the voters in this district feel the way I do,” Few said. “I’m the bold candidate, these are meaningful issues. That’s why I think I’ve gained a lot of momentum in this race.”