Is It Time for New Leadership in South Carolina's 4th District? | David Atchley | Episode 71

David Atchley is a Republican running for Congress in South Carolina's 4th Congressional District, challenging incumbent William Timmons. In this episode, we sit down to talk about why he's running, what's driving his campaign, and the issues he sees facing the Upstate.

A business development and fundraising expert with over 20 years of experience, David has led capital campaigns and strategy for organizations including Clemson University, Furman University, the Buzz Aldrin Space Foundation, Greenwood Genetics Center, and the Faison School for Autism. He is also a nationally recognized advocate for Autism research and educational access for children on the spectrum, a cause shaped by his experience raising a son with special needs.

Running as a common sense Republican, David's stated priorities include term limits, insurance reform, fair immigration policies, and cutting wasteful spending. He has completed 20 marathons and brings that same discipline to his campaign to put the Fourth District first.

We cover the race, his motivations for entering public life, and what he believes the 4th District needs in its next representative.

Learn more at davidatchleyforcongress.com

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio, or watch on YouTube.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, one thing I'm not as a career politician, not a lawyer, not a politician. I guess I'm an aspiring politician now that I'm running. However, I'm not there as a lifetime. Those incentives are the allure of DC does not attract me. Does attract me to come here and make an impact here locally. I've never taken special interest money, doesn't matter if it's raising money, building businesses. My reputation is well known, and I do things for the right reasons, and the right reasons is District 4.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

David Ashley, welcome back to the Cameron Brown show for a second recording. Um little do people know, but uh I messed up the first time, and unfortunately the audio did not record completely. So we're we're back at it again. We're gonna get it. Even better. Doing it for the doing it for the constituents. Doing it for the constituents. Right. Oh man. Um but I I do feel like at the end of our conversation, though, is when we you and I started to really get to know each other. So I kind of do appreciate having a second opportunity here at this uh because I now feel like I know you a whole lot better. So these questions should flow a little bit um more naturally this sec the second time around.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

Okay. Well, far away. Let's do it. Let's get it going.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Let's get it going. So we are, you know, for for obvious obviously everybody listening in, we're gonna talk a lot about your background and your life and your experiences, but we also are here today because you're running for Congress uh for the fourth fourth congressional district in South Carolina. And so just to kickstart this, would you give everybody a little bit of a better understanding of who you are and why you're running for Congress in South Carolina at this time in your life?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Well, that's that's a big question. But I um I'm uh a boy that was raised by a lifetime educator, um, Bill Atchley, who used to be the president of Clemson, but uh grew up in higher ed, um, had the ability to work out on the farm in Missouri every summer. They would call that summer camp. So learned the value of hard work uh every summer. I demonstrated that for my my family and grew up in the Limbaugh family, which Russell Limbaugh to many people was related to me. It doesn't necessarily mean we are alike, but uh we certainly have a lot of the same conservative values. Um growing up, I I um learned the value of integrity through my dad. He used to teach me that you show up and you do what you say every day, no matter what. That is how you're measured. So I thought that was a big life lesson. But after growing up with him, I went to Waffle College and had a great experience right here in the heart of our district. Was able to go out and move to California, was able to build a software business in the 911 space, and I didn't know it at the time, but learned the values of our law enforcement and how they put their life on the line every day, and they're very underappreciated, very underpaid, but we should owe a debt of gratitude to them and was able to sell that company in the early 2000s, then I followed in my father's footsteps and uh was in education with three different institutions, Wafford and Presbyterian College and Mary Baldwin University, all raising funds for a capital campaign. And I was in the leadership role, uh, was able to apply my entrepreneurial skills, starting a pharmacy school at Presbyterian College or being part of that team, which was about a$30,$35 million raise, and then being able to go up to Mary Baldwin and build a whole new campus, Allied Health campus, which had PT, OT, and PA,$150 million collective dollars raised. So I was able to do that. And then over the last 13 years, working in with different brands, have my consulting business and had the privilege of working with Buzz Aldrin and managing his foundation, educational foundation, for uh seven years and you know, worked on the Clemson NIL, which is uh a whole different game. I know a lot of people have different opinions, and mine probably uh are along those lines, but we're seeing uh change in sports as we know it at the collegiate level. And then just working with um True Line, the House of Blues founder in his whole new music venue and uh biotech, nonprofits, 50 different entities all over the eastern seaboard. Now I'm running for district four. So a whole new venture.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

It's a whole lot of experiences all packaged up and obviously being delivered now to the constituents of District 4, which is incredible. I um I didn't know you were a Walford guy, by the way. I was so when I was in when I was at uh Spartan High, um, I was actually little rough. I was the mascot for for Walford for about two years and uh and had like the had the time of my life to say the least. But I think there was one too many football games where like the frat section would pour beer on our head, and I was like, I don't know if I can do this any longer, if I'm being completely honest. But uh, but no, had a had a great time, had a great time doing that. Um we we kind of talked about this before, but with all the money that you've you've raised for other organizations and all the experiences you have, um it's all those are all wonderful things. But the way the constituents' minds typically work is okay, you've done all these other things for other organizations and other people, but how are you gonna package together all of that experience and what are you now gonna do for us? You've now done all these wonderful things for them. How are you now gonna do great things for us once you get into office?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Well, first of all, I do believe having experience, and I have many different lenses of experience, most industries. You gotta have that to be an effective leader. I believe that. You know, taking the 40-year plus experience plus the$700 million conservatively I've raised for the upstate and different impact creates the outcomes that people are looking for. You know, it's all about outcomes and impact. I believe I could take my experience in working with law enforcement and government and education to the issues that matter in the district. And it's always about the district first. You know, we have the best district in the country, and we need to treat it like it's the best district in the country in DC, but also here. And recruiting industry, I'm good at building business. I've done it all my life. Uh I know what the business owner or the company on the other side of the table is looking for. But also I know what we're looking for. And it all should go together in a win-win so we can build the right roads, the right infrastructure, the right economy, the right education, to have the pipeline of community that we need to be uh need to be here to thrive. So bringing that to the district first is number one priority. In D.C., there's lots of issues. One of the areas that can easily be done. I heard this from the economic development people of both Spartanburg and Greenville, is one being present. You have 70% more likelihood to convert. And two, in DC, we can create our MSA, which is a service area to include Greenville-Spartenburg, which makes it as big as a size of a Salt Lake City, Utah, giving you more dollars, more looks from a uh recruitment standpoint. Those are things that can be done in DC. All the other stuff is there, there are issues, and we need to work to common ground solutions for those.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

And I guess my question for you is from an authenticity perspective and from a corruption perspective, how are you going to address that when you get into Congress? How are you going to address the typical stereotype of the politician that is corrupt once they get into DC?

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Well, one thing I'm not as a career politician. I'm not here, not a lawyer, not a politician. I guess I'm an aspiring politician now that I'm running. However, I'm not there as a lifetime. Those incentives are the allure of DC does not attract me. Does attract me to come here and make an impact here locally. I've never taken special interest money, doesn't matter if it's raising money, building businesses. That that is not why I exist. And people that do that, they can speak for themselves, but I speak for what I represent. My reputation is well known, and I do things for the right reasons, and the right reasons is district four.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

And you are uh harping on term limits too. That's one of your the main pieces of your platform, correct?

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Uh term limits is talked about often by every politician, and I'm all for term limits. The way I view it for myself, and you put me on the record, I'm six years, six years, which equates to three terms, one term as a senator. That's the effective time that I would be running for office and hopefully to be there. However, ultimately, as I think I said this before, us as constituents in District Four uh have the right to vote me in or out, and that you turn me out. And my goal for this election is to term my opponent out. And that's up to me to express who I am and what I am so you can vote for me on June 9th.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Right. Yeah, we you comment you made that comment too, that most politicians talk about it, right? Everybody loves to talk about term limits, it sounds good, um, but it sounds once again like you're you're truly going on record here saying, hey, this is what I plan on doing, and and hold me to it. So moving forward, I'm assuming people can hold you to that at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Put me on record right now. And uh, you know, there's there's the rest of my life I will live after I finish in Washington, D.C. There's a lot of great things to do. The allure, I don't I think a lot of people do it because they like it and that's their job. That makes them career. I am not that. I've been a career businessman and uh plan on retiring and being a career retirement guy.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Right. Enjoying retirement. I love it. Right, right. I love it. Um, we talked about the uh the Middle East before, and obviously last week for the Middle East was in kind of a different, you know, uh stage of this existing war that we're in right now versus where we are today. Uh, but just in general, um, what would your approach to Middle East policy be once you get into Congress?

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Well, we are in a difficult situation right now. I think um going in, and if you're you have a mission, it's defined and you have an exit, I'm all about that. You cannot have mission creep in that region of the country in the world because that world has demonstrated over many centuries is unstable. So I find I feel like we're at a crossroads of committing ground troops and other things that probably commit us for a while. We also have to be mindful Israel is our ally over there. And um, you know, do we leave them? We've already started the war or conflict or whatever you may call it with them. You know, that's an extra decision that's gotta be made. I um I'm never in favor of conflict. You know, I think we should be out of wars, not in wars. And obviously that's what our current president said is what's to be out of conflict. So hopefully this war ends soon and we can um get back to being the greatest country in the world, the USA. Absolutely. 250 years for a reason.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Well, I won't I won't go down that too that path too much longer because that can turn into a three-hour long podcast if we talk about the Middle East. Uh, but I've got I've got plenty of fun thoughts on that in other another episodes that I'm releasing here shortly as well. So people can go check those out too if they want to. But once again, that is a long and complex conversation and setup. And I think this is where, especially we're we're in South Carolina. We are in the upstate of South Carolina, we're in District Four. Personally, I'd like our politicians to focus on what's best for us here and frankly stop thinking so much about what's going on internationally because we got plenty of issues to solve here. So I guess when it comes to getting to DC, when it comes to kind of your your day one, um, what are the most important things for you in regards to serving the the constituents of District Four on day one in DC? And I know it's not gonna all happen in day one, but over the course of the the early start.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

You know, I'm gonna be a person that uh listens to my constituents first. So that's gonna be out there spending a lot of time prior to my arrival in office to make sure I clearly understand what are the things on their mind. I've heard a lot on the campaign trail now. I'll hear a lot more then. But when I get there, I want to find like-minded people in DC that want to bring the way politics used to work back when I worked for Strom Thurman. I forgot to bring that up. My inspiration was to run for office because he made me promise in my lifetime that I'd run for political office. And he encouraged me to do uh federally elected office. So back then is when politics worked. You know, you had your Republicans and Democrats, and you've had your political banner, but when things mattered, they came together for the betterment of the country. And that was under the Ronald Reagan era. Actually, the first MAGA, if we look it up, uh Make America Great Again, came from Reagan. There's a button I have that can demonstrate that. And that, but that's when you know politics work. So bringing that, you know, starting with one, coalescing people that are like-minded to make things work would be my answer to that.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Got it. You also we talked a lot about your experience running marathons as well before and how much that has kind of shaped you into the the man that you are today because of the amount of marathons that you've done. There are also other causes that are near and dear to your heart. Um, but past the running and everything that we discussed on that front, which once again I I love the running conversations, but I want to jump over that real quick. What causes are most near and dear to your heart that uh outside of politics, um, what what has really been, and and you've mentioned education, but what else is really near and dear to you personally?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Yeah, so obviously one that has been a 25-year journey and I've served in lots of capacities is the world of autism. You know, and if we look at autism just in and of itself as a disorder that is growing by leaps and bounds, and often we ignore it. Uh you know, I would I raise an autistic child. I know the challenges of a parent that go from diagnosis all the way through the lifespan. It takes an incredible amount of resources to get an autistic child through, about 50,000 out of a parent's pocket, so they have to work one job, the other one works a job to keep the family afloat. Dor divorce rate within autisms at the mid 80%. Very dysfunctional for the nuclear family. And then you just look in DC, this is why we got to address it. If you look at what the burden is for an average an autistic child from birth or diagnosis all the way to death, it's about three to five million dollars, depending on how you want to count it. That burden's going to government, and we're not spending near enough resources to understand the cause, address the therapies, and eventually get a cure. Um, we have to do that. So that is something I've been passionate about. Served on lots of boards and lots of capacities on that. Um, you know, as far as education, drill deeper, teachers and pay, that is our lifebud, and we still spend little time on the actual lifeblood of our child, and that's the teacher. We give them to them every day, we give your child to them every day. We need to invest in that in lots of different ways for sure. And lastly, you know, law enforcement, you know, safe communities are important, and they're another unappreciated resource. We need to invest in them and making sure they have the right tools that are used right to keep us safe. So those are some causes. And then running marathons back to the beginning on your question. I've run twenty seven in my lifetime. Uh what every marathon is the same. It's the beginning, the middle, the wall, and the end. And you experience it the same. It takes determination to get through, no matter how much you want to quit. You gotta fight through the other side to see the finish.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

So well, I've only run one, and I don't know how difficult it is. So except to run 27 is incredibly impressive. That's only and I definitely hit the wall hard. Um, and I was I don't think I've ever heard a wall like that in my entire life, where I was like, I am done. I don't want to do any more of this. Where where was that? That was KOI. It was flat, it was super flat too. And so since then, I mean I've run and I've kind of gotten over the wall um it be a little bit further along each time, but the most I'd ever run up until that point was 14 miles prior to the marathon. I was like, Oh, I'll be fine. About mile 16, I was like, I my body just fell apart. I've never done this before, I've never gone this distance. So you do, you truly have to go and train further than 14 miles to really do a marathon well.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

That's a mental mindset. You know, uh anybody can do it, but it's the mind over matter, so to speak. And the one that speaking of DC, because I think it represents that, and I've read I've raised that a couple of times, is Haynes Point is a long, sort of boring stretch of the whole run, goes along the river, and it's an out and back, but it's steering that wall. And you just got to power through the monotony of running, and then you finish at Kilimanjar, I believe. It's the highest climb of the whole day, and it's the last mile. And you know, it just takes guts and determination to get through it. But uh, you know, glad I'm dinner. And now I hike uh the rim to rim. I've done that six times in the Grand Canyon in a day, and nothing more beautiful, but nothing it was harder a marathon because you go down about 8,000 to 2,000 to 8,500 and in a day.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

And then come right back up, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Once you commit, you're down, you gotta go out. So it's a different level of commitment. You know, you gotta get out. But it, you know, I've found those challenges helpful in my whole professional life and my personal life that life's not always gonna be easy, but perseverance gets you through anything.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

Absolutely. We talked about AI last time, and we haven't even touched on that at all today. But AI is kind of this looming next thing. It's kind of the looming threat to civilization, right? Um, but with the data centers and AI and everything else coming about, what is your approach to AI as it relates to getting into Congress and then potentially being around legislation related to AI? What is kind of going to be your approach when you to DC?

SPEAKER_00 21:22

First of all, I'll comment on AI as a general comment. AI as a tool as we all know it today, and we use it. It's powerful, it's amazing. It gives us information instantaneously, almost perfectly, not totally perfect. But you know, if you want something quick and done, AI is here to stay and it's only going to grow in its popularity. Uh they are take huge data centers that create and use a lot of power and a lot of water. They don't create many jobs and not many. People want them in their backyard. So that is a problem. But we've created our problem.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

I think I saw 50% of those projects have already been like gotten, they've been nixed for the year already.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Spartanburg's a good example. I think they have one proposed, and I believe it was either delayed or nixed. We looked at it as a great tool, and it was. People need to embrace it, just like any technology. And the individuals or companies that embrace it and move and redeploy the workforce, I think will survive and they'll be and thrive. In DC, just like any other tool, there's great use, but with that, there's a lot of potential misuse. And right now we have no boundaries about the use of this powerful tool. And things will creep in, the misuse, and we're probably already seeing that now will be handled. We need to put some severe boundaries around that now, and Congress has to do that. And I watched the uh 60 minutes clip on uh AI and robots, and it hit home. I'm like, they have robot technology, we've had it for years, but now AI trains it dynamically, but also trains it with emotion. And that should be scary. There's a lot of things that can good can come out of it, but a lot of bad can come out. So we need to pay attention closely. And in Washington, we need to put boundaries immediately around that.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Well, I'm glad to know it's top of mind for you because I feel like there is this sense, in my opinion, there's like a disconnect between generations, is what it kind of feels like uh across the board, especially when it comes to like social media and other things too. And I understand that it's not that it is not the biggest focus for uh certain generations, but for us when it comes to technology, we use it day in, day out in everything we do. And we want to know that the people that are writing, creating, implementing the laws are actually paying close attention to the things to AI as it relates to job replacement and everything else as well. So it's good to know that it's it's time to find for you. I want to kind of wrap this up by talking about uh you how as it relates to your um your opponent in this and how you maybe differ from him across the board. Uh you you mentioned earlier that you you talked to Strom Thurmond years ago and he told you that some point in your life you should run and you're following through with that promise. But with uh William Timmins as your opponent, he's an incumbent uh and he's now running for his what what term is this for him?

SPEAKER_00 24:42

In the fifth term.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Fifth term for him. What um when people are going to vote and when they're thinking about deciding between you or uh Congressman Timmins, why do you think they should vote for you over Timmins?

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Well, I'll put this couple different ways. And philosophically, I'm about the district first and showing up and being present and doing things for the district. That's what I heard from 95% of the people when I looked at this race. And I said, I can do that without question. That is my number one uh attribute. As far as his comments relative to I'm just running one more term and I retire after that because I don't like DC, like that's not a good answer to me. Why are you entitled to the term? One and if you don't like DC, then you got an exit strategy right now. You're not forced to be in DC. So, you know, I'm a individual with experience that's gonna show up, make a difference with all our all of our leaders and elected officials locally, and then work our way in DC. That's a longer mountain to climb, but I'm gonna climb it as best I can. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Is there anything else that you want to add that we we did not hit on tonight um that maybe is super important for those once again as they head to the polls in June and they're considering voting for you, that they really should know about you personally?

SPEAKER_00 26:27

Well, I think my race is different in how I present. We have uh events throughout the district. So far, we've had 20, 20 some odd events. We plan on doing events all the time through the district, all of the way to June 9th. One thing, all my events are open to all. No cost. I don't charge$3,500 to hear me speak. No one will want to pay that anyway. But that's a good thing. You know, people are welcome to hear me because I I do think it's important to get to know me as a person. I am not a known figure that politically, and that is the advantage. Um it is important to show up June 9th. If you wake up on June 10th and you didn't vote, and you gotta look at yourself and say, Why? You gotta accept whoever the nominee is at that point, because that's more than likely gonna be the candidate. So show up on June 9th and then visit my website. And that website is David Atchley for USCongress.com. And if you like what you see, there's plenty of opportunity to volunteer to get behind my uh organization. We need everyone who wants that. And we also have yard signs available if you just want to do something that's supportive but less intentional on the volunteer side. We need it all because it all comes down to June 9th. And my goal is not to outraise them, but out-hustle them. And I'm here to do that.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Well, David, thank you so much for your time today. Uh also I've seen the yard signs, they look really good, by the way. So keep popping those up around town. The visibility is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

If you want one to put up, I'd just be happy to give you one and you prominently place it right there. We'll have one more out there.

SPEAKER_01 28:29

Sounds like the city might take it if I place it in a certain location, but uh I'll be I'll do my best not to get it taken from the Well then.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

We wanted to stay out through June 9th, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Yeah, we'll we'll put it up at the house for sure. For sure. Well, once again, thank you so much for the time, uh, especially the second go-around here. But I think all this information is super important for people to have in in their hands and uh as a have a better understanding of you as they go to the polls on June 9th as well.

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Well, thank you for having me. And if you need to go a third time, I'm here too.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

Gosh, let's let's hope not. I think well, I think this one's gonna work. All right. I like it. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Take care now.