The Middle Ground Mic | Mark Lynch: Taking On Lindsey Graham

30 years in power and a 43% lifetime conservative score. By any standard that is a failing grade — and South Carolina business owner Mark Lynch has decided the only way to fix it is to do it himself.

This interview is not an endorsement of Mark Lynch or any political candidate. The Middle Ground Mic provides a platform for all perspectives. No Left. No Right. Forward.

🌐 Mark Lynch Campaign: https://lynchforsenate.com

On this episode of The Middle Ground Mic, Joe Steagall sits down with Senate candidate Mark Lynch, who has put $5 million of his own retirement money into his campaign to unseat Lindsey Graham. This independent politics conversation covers Graham's documented voting record, why Mark is refusing AIPAC money, how his 74-year family business and faith background prepared him for Washington, and what a biblical decision-making process looks like in the United States Senate. No left. No right. Just the facts.

With the 2026 South Carolina primary approaching, this race is one of the most watched outside challenger campaigns in the country. Mark Lynch is not a politician. He's a businessman with 40 years of fruit in his life and $5 million of skin in the game — and that changes everything about how this race is being watched nationally.

No Left. No Right. Forward. New episodes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Subscribe so you never miss what both parties don't want you to hear.

00:00 — Who Is Mark Lynch?
04:00 — Building a 110-Person Business on Faith
05:30 — COVID: They Tried to Shut Us Down
06:50 — Why He’s Running Against Lindsey Graham
07:45 — 43% Conservative Score Breakdown
09:20 — The AIPAC Money Question
11:00 — How He Decides What’s Right
15:00 — Putting $5 Million on the Line
17:30 — Gen Z and the Return to Faith
19:00 — What He’d Actually Do in the Senate
29:00 — The “Fruit” in His Life
36:00 — What He Says to Skeptics
38:00 — The Employee Recovery Story
41:00 — How to Support / Final Thoughts

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to the middle ground. You know, 30 years in power, and voters are still asking what has actually changed. It's not a Republican problem, it's not a Democrat problem. We've got a system problem. But now you've got a business owner who employs about 110 people stepping in saying he can do better. That's a claim that we all want to know about. You know, so today we're going to talk to him. His name's Mark Lynch. Mark, I appreciate you being here. Introduce yourself, tell everybody about who you are.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah, thank you, Joseph. It's an honor to be on your great show and be able to have the opportunity to meet you and talk to your listeners and viewers out there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Yeah, I'm Mark Lynch. I was born and raised in South Carolina in Greenville. I'm running for the United States Senate to remove a traitor in Lindsey Graham. That's been there too long, and we've had enough in our state. Our state's ready for a true conservative leader. A lot of people say, well, you say that. Everybody says that. Then they go to D.C. and they change and they get pulled left, and then we found out everything was a lie, and we don't have any difference. All I can tell you is I can show you the fruit in my life. I'm an ordained deacon at our church at Burnsview Baptist Church. I've been married for 38 years to the same wife. We have two awesome children, my son Cole and my daughter Stevie. They're both saved. They love Jesus. They're married to godly spouses. They each have two children, so we have four wonderful grandchildren. I bought my father's business back in 1983, and he turned over the reins to me to lead it these last 40 years. And we're in our 74th year now. The business has grown 35 times in sales volume. We've gone from five to 110 people. God's the owner of everything, and I know that, and he owns our business. And we have a chapel in our company, and we teach the word of God to our employees twice a week because our people are our greatest assets, and we honor God and spread the word of God and disciple people. That's what we're commanded to do by our Lord and Savior Jesus. So we do that. How did I get into this? People that met me uh back in 2014 when we started getting politically active at a at a at a high level came from meeting a gentleman named John Guandolo who ran Understanding the Threat, an organization to educate and equip uh law enforcement, national security issues, after he worked 13 years in the government as the head of the anti-terrorism division of the FBI. He was a Marine commander for 15 years, then went into that role after 9-11 happened and worked closely with Phil Haney, who was the director when Homeland Security was created after our buildings hit the ground and we had been attacked on our home soil. I met him, got enthralled. I couldn't believe what I was learning. He he started equipping me and teaching me, and we started teaching people in our community. He works all over the country still, and so he committed to come here and help us train our law enforcement. We started having educational seminars with 600 and 800 people in churches. Right. All of us couldn't believe what we were learning. While I was doing that, I was meeting lots of people that I hadn't met before. Some of the state legislators in the House and our state senate in Columbia, here in South Carolina. And finally, several families got together. They had checked me out and said, you need to run for office. And I said, You need to go take a drug test. I've never had ambitions to do that. You know, I'm I'm running a successful business. I have a lot on my plate. Um, and uh we've we've done mission work all over the world, and we've we've led recovery ministries to lead people out of the lies of addiction and into freedom in Christ, and we've done that for 40 years. And um so anyway, these families kept pushing and said, no, we've checked you out and you'll do great. You're a businessman. We need more business people that have dealt with all the issues in life, application of going through that, because we fought the giants, Joseph, you know, like Home Depot and Sears and Circuit City and H.H. Gregg and a lot of these big corporations in our industry. We have uh appliances, TVs, furniture, and bedding. That's what we do at a large scale. You know, we've we fight these big national chain stores that have 3,000 locations, and some of them aren't here anymore. Sears is gone, Circuit City's gone, H.H. Greg's gone, Montgomery Wards is gone, Leachmere's gone, and we can go on and on, and we're still here. We're vibrant, growing, and we have an awesome culture here. So people saw that, looked at the fruit in my life, and said, this is the kind of guy we need in government. And I ran for a state senate office in 2020. That was the year COVID came, and we're fighting the police and DHEC and OSHA to stay open. So they let the big box store stay open, they let the abortion clinics stay open, they let the liquor stores stay open, but they were closing family businesses and churches. And it's like, is anybody paying attention? We had the police come here and threaten us. You got another complaint because your people aren't wearing masks. I said, we don't have to. That's medical freedom. You can wear a mask, you can take the clot shot. We choose not to. If you're gonna arrest me, do it. Give me that news story, please. I'd love that. But it's not a law, it's a medical opinion. I appreciate it, but I have knowledge and I do things holistically, and you know, I believe in Jesus and I see all this as a scam. So we all fought through that. We didn't close. We had one of the biggest years we'd ever had was in 2020. But I almost won. I lost by 5%. After that, our campaign team reviewed, got together, and we formed the United Patriots Alliance, and we still said, we're gonna fight. We see the corruption in government, everybody's taking the money. You know, one of God's verses that has really come to play in my mind more than ever is the love of money is the root of all evil. And these people get to Columbia or they get to DC, they might have gone with good intentions, but if they're weak and they'll they'll take the bait, they'll take the cash, they'll take the envelope of money and start being beholden to the donor and they'll start changing their policies. You know, I won't do that. No, and a big a big question we get out here if I get into the U.S. Senate is this is will you take money from APAC? I won't take a penny from APAC or from anybody that's gonna try to control me and give me money to do that. I don't need money. From my past work of 40 years, my wife and I have been blessed. And when we chose to to take this U.S. Senate uh role and remove a traitor in our government, I I say traitor because his conservative voting record, lifetime voting record, I don't lie, I don't bring out propaganda against people, I just look up the facts. This is available for everybody to see how our employees in DC are working, just like our kids when they go to school. We get to see their their report cards. And Lindsay's lifetime score of conservative values is 43 percent. He's failing. His constitutional scorecard and the freedom index is fifty-seven percent. And you know, anything out of a hundred below seventy is an F. Right, yeah, you're failing class. So it's it's like an employee. If we if I have an employee that refuses to do his job, he's arrogant about it, he's gonna do it his way, and we've given him three strikes. It's time to go. You know, there's somebody else out there that we need to bless in this position. Anyway, we've jumped in, bring true conservative values, I have bold leadership, I have courage, I'm not afraid of any man. I I serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I come and to put God's values first. We wear this cross with the American flag on it, because to make America great again, the simplest way is to bring God back first in this country. And that's how our founders formed the Constitution. They were divinely inspired by God. They came here to worship the one true God, and we've got to get back to that. And that things will start getting fixed. God will do it. And so we've got to get prayer back into schools, and we're going to DC. That's the next mission trip my wife and I are on to go to the swamp in DC and bring God there.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

Well, that is gonna be uh that that'll be a test for sure. You know, the one thing I really like that you talked about was authenticity, you know, and being passionate and being real about who you are, you know, and bringing that to the people, you know, and like especially with your faith and you know, the things you're aligned with. And that's what a lot of people they miss, or they at least miss having that feeling when they look at their leaders. You know, growing up, whether you agreed with a politician or not, you at least could look at them and be like, I can at least respect what this man has to say, even if I don't agree with him because he's being honest about who he is. And I think that that's missing, and that's what people like I was telling you before, that's what people seem to want. It it kind of piggybacking love what you see you know, a lot of people complain about Washington, but not a lot of people who have the ability or opportunity, you know, they don't jump in. You know, and you were kind of expanding on that. Was there a moment where it just kind of flipped it for you?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Well, I mean, the state senate opportunity when that came, and and again, I I didn't make it, and we couldn't even knock on doors after March. People were afraid and they wouldn't open the door to talk to you, so that was a negative. We didn't get enough name ID. Almost. Again, we lost by just like 600 something votes out of 18,000. So for a first time run, it was pretty good. Everybody said, hey, don't be disappointed in that. It takes several attempts for some people to get get in and actually win. You almost took it. And back then, Joseph, you know, when these families and some people in the state house met with me in January of 2020 and sat down with us on New Year's Day, actually. One guy what what tipped it for me was he said, Mark, you know, in the old days, in the beginnings of the country, the town members would meet and say, We believe oh Bob over here, he would be, he has the qualities we need for a sheriff. Or Frank over here, he he has the ability to be our governor. He's a solid Christian guy. We see what he's doing, he's got fruit in his life, he doesn't compromise, he works hard, he's debt-free, he's a good husband, a good father. You see his children, they're doing good. You know, the qualities of a deacon that God requires, because I'm an ordained deacon in our church. So this one guy, Doug, asked me, he said, you know, it was an honor for the town community to say, Frank over here, we believe you need to be our senator or governor or sheriff or whatever it is. And uh I said, God, guy, guys, y'all are guilting me into this thing. I don't I don't see myself as that. Well, we do. We've researched your background, we know who you are. We see your business, we've talked to your employees, your children, your wife, and you're the guy. Do this for us. There's nobody else. And I was in tears because it was an honor to be thought of at that level that they trusted me enough to take, take the baton and go make a difference in Columbia. So we didn't make it. So we formed the uh United Patriots Alliance Group and more and more people all through the years, because that's one thing we do is help choose and help filter and discern who should be the next House representative in our state or state senator and who are these bad guys, and let's look at their voting records and let's hold them accountable. And um, at this next midterm elections we're now in that happened June 9th for my race over a year ago, people came to me sincerely and said, When are you gonna run again? There's nobody else. We've searched, we don't have anybody, we've got to replace Lindsey Graham. So I didn't I thought about it. I don't want to go to D.C. We've got four grandchildren now. You know, I could retire. And uh it's it's you know, like my wife said, Mark, there's nobody else. And I know you're my husband, but I'm not the only one. We all see it. You're the guy, you've got to do it. So it's a major sacrifice. I've been I've done everything I've ever wanted to do in life. I'm blessed. And uh it's you know, I'm serving my employees. We serve as a deacon, we serve in the recovery ministry. You you get back more when you give and you receive more. You know, God says to who has been freely given is expected to freely give. And uh there's no better feeling than serving people and making a difference in people's lives. You know, I I had a pastor one time preach at our store and he said, we want to leave a legacy. Everybody wants to see what we did in the dash. We were born in this year, we passed away in this year. What did we leave? I don't want to take anything with me that I could leave here and help one more person if that's possible. That's what we're required to do. Did my life make a difference here or not? So we prayed about it. You know, it's an hour and a half flight, direct flight from Greenville Spartanburg Airport. We fly out of to go to D.C. We've gone several times to see PAC and different things and different stuff in D.C., starting this race. Hey, I can do that. I love an hour and a half of quiet time. I'm not plugged in. It gives me time to think and write my ideas down and have a moment with God and relax and and realize how blessed I am. And so we had a washing of the Holy Spirit. One of the people we met was Roger Stone in the in the community of national security work we've been involved in with John and his team. We've met a lot of great people. Those people helped the Clay Clark Reawaken America tour when Trump's election got stolen in 2020, preparing the election for 24. They traveled all over the country speaking out with General Mike Flynn. He's he's given me his full endorsement, by the way. John Guandolo and Mark Burns and Peter Navarro and all a lot of the people that were with Trump that went through major persecution through the Russian collusion hoax where they tried to put all these people in prison. And Lindsay Graham spearheaded that effort back then. He was the ring leader. Absolutely. And so Roger said Mark Donald Trump will want to see your polling, how you're doing, and he'll want to see how much skin you have in the game. So we prayed about that when we made a decision after three conversations and prayer and thinking about it and coming back to it. We had a washing of the Holy Spirit and we said, let's do this, we can do it. And we we pushed five million dollars of our retirement funds, my wife and I did, into our FEC Lynch for Senate account to show people we're serious about this. And it takes a lot of money. That's not all we're gonna need. And donations are coming in, and we pray for whatever people can give. Thank you. Every dollar helps. But we put five million of our own money into it because it takes at least that much to get through just a primary season. So uh because you know, running a TV commercial across the state of South Carolina cost about three hundred thousand dollars to receive a minimum frequency that takes just to make sure you hear our message and see it for one you know, for one three-week period. It's about a hundred thousand a week to to minimum to run TV in the state to make a difference. So we've been doing that for a long time. We've spent a lot of money so far out of our personal donation into this campaign. So help us out there if you can. We need we need funding. It'll be a big doge event because if we can remove Lindsay, trillions, trillions of dollars of corrupt money that he's he's getting his hands on and funding ISIS with it through USAID and other things. You know, that's why we got to get this guy out because he's a traitor. And uh so that means something. You know, America means something to me. My father and my wife's father fought in World War II. My dad was Air Airborne. He volunteered and went into the military at Fort Jackson and then went to Fort Bragg and became Air Airborne. And my wife's father became a commander of one of the biggest Navy fleets and uh served. Uh we're near off the coast where they dropped the uh atomic bomb and everything. And uh he was affected with that and got cancer and all this kind of stuff. But these are warriors. You know, that was they say that's the greatest generation.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

I think this generation could be the greatest generation, too. There's not just one. If we bring men back that have boldness and courage and love the Lord and love their country and they're willing to die and sacrifice their lives for this great effort called America over 250 years, we're in our our anniversary this year, so great year. And I hope I can bring a present to America and and we can get in D.C. and get true conservative leadership back in our office to give our state representation in D.C.

SPEAKER_01 18:21

Is that I believe it was GL that did a study that found Gen Z young men, I believe 18 to 21, and just Gen Z in general, are going to church and things of that nature at a higher rate, not seen since the greatest generation. You know, in terms of like as a per person, I forget the exact measurement phrasing. Uh and I was, you know, compared to what you see on the media, that's very it was very surprising to me, you know, because if you turn on any news thing, it's Gen Z is just completely opposite to what is actually going on. And Gen Z is they're faith-based, a lot more faith-based than people realize. You know, the COVID really kind of got them lost, you know, and that's where, you know, your faith can appeal to them. You know, like yeah, so what you know, what do you bring? Because, you know, Lindsay Graham says some of those, you know, the faith things, but you know, a lot of people feel it's very hollow with him. That is something that I have seen out there, and it's not like a personal attack. I mean, it's just something that's been in the news. You know, what do you say to those folks who are, you know, younger, they feel lost, but they're trying to find that. And how do, you know, for from your perspective, obviously you're in business and you see the retail end of it, you know, and how that, you know, kind of all blends in together for Washington.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Yes. Yeah. Well, you know, I'm a fighter, and we have to deal with people as a president and steward over our 110 employees here. You know, God's the owner. People meet me and said, Oh, you're the owner. I said, No, God's the owner. Yeah, yeah, but you're the owner. I said, No, God is the owner. I'm the president. I'm just trying to be a good steward over this. And I tell you, having a relationship with Jesus Christ takes all the pressure off. I don't have to make any decision ever by myself again, nor would I. The gospel in Proverbs says, with many counselors comes success. And the most wonderful counselor of all is Jesus. So I have to take every major decision before him and then bring it before a team of my executive people. And uh we we talk it all out, take our time. We don't rush into anything. You know, God provides a light to direct our paths, that's what he says. When we trust him and lean not on our understanding, he'll direct our ways. So it's good to have divine protection in the heavenly realm down here, because all of this we're talking about and me running as a U.S. senator, it's not Republican versus Democrat. This is a spiritual battle in the heavenly realm. That's that's what gives me more protection, knowing who I am in Christ. I'm God's child, and I I know that the enemy can't touch me unless I give him legal access to, if I get off into some sin or do something stupid. But I'll have an accountability team of men around me in DC, just like I have here, that have been authorized to come into my office and hit me with a two by four and pour ice water on me and get my attention and say, what are you doing? Because if we're making deceptive decisions, we think we're doing the right thing, right? If I can't see that, I gotta have men on the outside around me that do see it that can help prevent me and keep me safe. You know, just like the president. He hopes he has the best people around him to give him the greatest intel he has to have to make a good decision. And then after prayer, you know, we need God's intervention to come in if it's if it's God's will for this to be done, and if it's not, block it completely. But you know, all my life, I I I'll say this, I had to come to the end of myself at like 25 years old. I had myself backed into a corner, and I was broken spiritually, financially, emotionally in every way. I was fifty-three thousand dollars in debt as a 25-year-old. I paid all that off. It took me nine years to pay all my debts back, and I promised I paid every penny back. And uh it broke me, and I was saved at 11 years old. I gave my life to Jesus, but I wandered off and I was gonna do things my way. I did it my way, and it came to a and that didn't work too well. Mark's uh best efforts got Mark humbled, broken. Help me, you know, and I came back like a prodigal son, and uh I realized I'll never make a decision ever by myself again. And so God says in his word in Matthew 6, 33 through 34, it's in a section of the Bible about worry, and God says, Why are you worrying? I take care of the lilies in the field. I make sure the birds have shelter and water and food, and you're more important than me. Ye have little faith. Seek me first, God says. Put me first in my life. Let me show you what I'll do for you. If you will seek me first in the kingdom of righteousness, all these things will be done for you. You don't have to worry about food. Food, water, success, shelter, health, anything. Now I'm telling you, if that's the one magic pill I could get everybody to swallow, you wouldn't believe what God will do for you. He loves you so much. You know, my life verse, Joseph is John 15, 13. There is no greater love than he that would lay down his life for his friends. Jesus says that. And then the next verse, he says, I call you my friends if you obey my commands. So we do have to live and have a motivation. And if we're saved, the Holy Spirit dwells in us that second, we're going to have a desire to do what's good now. Right. Sin won't ever feel won't ever feel comfortable again. And if we just trust the Lord and listen to Him and leave every day, you know, it's like Jesus pulls up with his car and blows the horn. Hey, let's go today. I'm ready to take you into some more stuff. And we have to get in the backseat, and the contract is this. We don't get to see what it is. It's faith. And we have to sign at the bottom. Do you trust me? Trust me. I died for you. And we get in the back seat and put a blindfold on and give Jesus the keys. And that's the way I saw it in my life. And later, if somebody wrote a song, they should give me some royalties from it because you know I understood that. Jesus take the will. I had that same kind of vision. And a lot of people have. They described it the same way. And when it all kind of restarted for me and I came back home saved, but I was living on Mark's will instead of God's will. My name was in the book of life, but I was still running my life. And that doesn't work because Jesus gotta He's gotta be not just my Savior, but my Lord. That means we come before Him every day and say, What would you have me do today, Lord? You know, you think of a king and like a maybe a picture of ancient days in Rome or something or whatever we picture, but I'm talking about God at the throne with his son Jesus, and we walk into the room and have the awe of his power and might and honor him and hit our knees and say, My Lord, what would you have me do today and stay surrendered to his will? And I was scared to death to get in the backseat of the car, put a blindfold on, and give Jesus the keys. I needed to know where I was going. And it took me a while. Like if this was my life, I gave him a little piece of it. I said, I'll give you this, and you show me what you do. And it was so good it scared me to death. I'm like, I didn't do anything. I can't take any credit for what he just did for me. Later I pushed it all in and said, Lord, take it all. That's kid. And we have to we have to do that every morning or anytime during the day, we take it. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

Yeah, you have to have that faith. You know, and when you're talking uh when you talk about faith, right, and then we talk about Washington, DC, right? A a lot of people don't have faith. I think what congressional approval is 20%, 15%, depending on some polls are worse, some polls are better. You know, what when people vote for you per se, right? Like it coming up in the primaries, what is their what's the big faith behind it that they because you you said you're not gonna take them away from APAC, which in this day and age that is key for a lot of voters right now, because it is such that big subject that you had mentioned. What is the you know, and you talked about, hey, uh nobody's gonna control me. You know, and they you know, what's your message to give them that faith, you know, based on some of the things we've talked about and that, right? Because everybody always says, Hey, I feel like when I look at a politician, a senator, or a house rep, they don't always feel like they're talking to that person. They feel like they're talking to whoever's gonna write the bill later on for them or tell them what they want to hear, right? You know, how does that that faith translate into that?

SPEAKER_00 26:42

Yeah. Well, again, like I won't say like Peter that I'll never deny you, Jesus. My prayer is I don't want to deny you. Help me not deny you. And so I know that I have to remain humble and keep an accountability team around me. And I have to use good decision-making processes, just like I've done the last 40 years, growing this business with God at the center. He's the owner. And so every every decision, I don't I don't I don't know what we're gonna run into. I know, like the SAVE Act, if I'm in in Congress as your U.S. Senator for South Carolinians, that's a duh. We don't think we need voter ID, a driver's license, and proof of citizenship. Can anybody just vote in this country that's an illegal alien in here or a terrorist, somebody that's trying to destroy America? No. Only Americans can vote in American elections. Just like any other country. Right, yeah. Why are we why are we not passing this act and we're allowing our Congress to hide in the threat of a filibuster where it moves to 60% or higher, and so it just stalls again, and everything stops, and they close the government. We don't have TSA, we don't have Homeland Security being paid. That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

We should never be in there.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Yeah, so every decision I make has to go through two filters. The first filter is God's Word. It's got to line up with the Bible. When our laws don't match God's laws, we got a problem. And it's the church's obligation and duty of the American citizens to protect that. That's the first filter. Our Constitution was written from godly principles. And you had to love Jesus back in the day to be the mayor or U.S. Senator or president or whatever. We need to get back to that. But the second filter is the Constitution. If it gets through God's word, let's keep looking at it. If it gets through the Constitution, good. All right, we'll we'll consider these things. I serve the people, but we're a republic. We're not a democracy. It's not 51% majority rules. It's got to match our morals in the Constitution that God designed. And then if it gets out of there, we'll look at it. Do we really need this? Just like we do in our business, Joseph, if we we have a new idea that we've never heard before, we'll look at it, but let's go back and look at how we're doing things. Let's make sure it doesn't change our procedures and methods that are proven and tested over 74 years because there's certain basic checks and balances, like I told my son, third generation, that you'll never change. You know, you got to balance the checkbook, you got to balance the cash drawer every day, you got to check out people, make sure they have the right washer on the truck and not drive out 50 miles with the wrong thing because you went too hurriedly. We have checks and balances. That'll never change. If the way you do it might later become a computer, we used to do everything with a handwritten ticket machine. The computers have saved us massive time hours, you know, from work. Um uh a business of our size, no way could it run like it did back in the 70s or whatever with a paper ticket machine. You can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

No, yeah, no, I missed I ri I I didn't vote back then, but I know I I missed uh seeing uh I used to see those on the election ads back when I was growing up all the time.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

The people, you know, dropping them in there.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Right. I mean, w the newspaper used to be our main source of news. Look at how we get we're talking electronically miles away, like we're in the same room together. That's just amazing. Technology has really added to our lives. But it's a pain sometimes when it doesn't work, but it's great when it does. But um I'll protect my decision-making processes when I get there. You know, I'm married, I don't drink or do drugs, so we won't be going to the cocktail parties and you know, you know, if you take a beer or a glass of wine or or a shot of liquor, you know, you're you're it's like the bars on your phone, you start losing the ability to have sane decisions. And Satan takes over our thinking process with alcohol. That's the worst drug problem there is in the country. I've done this for 40 years. I've helped addicts, I know the percentages. Fentanyl's horrible, but alcohol's the worst drug because it's legal. You know, Lindsay's hitting me with these fake ads now because I'm over his target, and he's saying Mark Lynch is for legalizing marijuana and cocaine. That is the biggest crock of all. I've never said that. That's he's just making up lies because he's getting concerned that we're going to take his seat because we are. And the polling we have now that's come out, we did a Rasmussen poll, a legitimate poll with a thousand completes, head to head. She's at 41%. I'm at 21. I'm I'm next to Lindsay out of five people running. And the informed ballot, when people know who I am, it flip-flops. Lindsey drops to 23%, and I've grown up to 34%, but still having 26% undecided, not sure, that are going to make their decisions over the next 60 days. That's how far we are. Wow. It's June, June 9th. So that's the biggest question. People like I don't see this happening. Lindsay's so entrenched, he's a senior senator. He'll have millions of dollars you're not going to have. How are you going to take him out? And I told one group that asked me that question at one of our presentations, hundreds we've had. I said, Let me tell you something. He's just a man. And one of the men in the audience said, I don't know if I'd call him that. Well, and I said, Yeah, no, I understand a lot of people are concerned about who he is. You know, at one of my interviews one time, a guy said, Tell me the biggest difference between you and Lindsey Graham. And I said, See that lady over there? That's my wife of 38 years. He knows nothing about that. But anyway, uh, it how do we do it? Everybody has faith. I'm giving you a little more consideration and strengthening your faith. The polls are proving to us it's doable. So we need everybody to come along. One guy we helped run for Congress one time, Joseph, at a church. We had a meet and greet for him, and the pastor at the end said, I gotta say something. Let's pray for these guys. They're willing to throw their hat in the ring and sacrifice. He's running for Congress for the House seat. The pastor said, I maybe I don't want to turn your theology upside down, but I'm tired. He said, I'm tired of hearing God's in charge, God's in charge. And this was back in 2020 when everything was falling apart fast. He says, Listen, I know God's in charge. But Jesus came down here and did what he did and destroyed the works of the devil forever. And he's empowered us. He sits at the right hand of his Father. It is finished. He's not coming back here to go through all that again. He's already done it. And he's tired of us calling up there and praying, help, help. And so the pastor said in Genesis and in Matthew, I think it's verse 18, 18, God says, I will loose what you loose and bind what you bind. And the message is God's tired of us praying all the time. Help me, help me. No, I live in you. And I told you you will do greater things, Jesus said than I, because there's millions of us down here that are saved. Go do the work. And so that's what I've decided to do. And I'm going to go in and make a difference with God leading me in every decision. That's the only way you can hold. Because this wicked evil stuff going on with the corruption level. When we have our universities taking time out in a business class and showing a PowerPoint for 30 minutes about our students should consider a transgender surgery.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Things like that, it it distracts from what we're trying to do just as in general, right? As a not just faith, but as a society. You know, that's right. You know, these things, as much as the media tries to go, oh, hey, it's new. It hasn't been new, but before the focus was on developing yourself as a person and as a student and a leader, and that has just vanished.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

One of my best friends, his son, and they're all good friends with our family. We're good close family friends. His son called. He was at Clemson in a business class, and he took a picture of that exact example I just shared. And he said, and he's paying, his dad made him work and pay for his tuition. He said, I'm in a business course, and this is the second time, and it's happening in two other of my classes. Three of my five classes, they're taking time out and wasting our time trying to sell us on going and having a transgender sexual mutilation surgery, Dad. I'm sick of this. So he finally dropped out, started his own big landscaping and uh excavation services. And the kid's smart and he's he's doing awesome. And he saved three more years of college tuition and decided not to pay it because he was tired. You know, I didn't I I signed I this is an economics class, not a sexual change how God made me class with surgery. And then later these kids wake up at 25, 30 years old going, and it didn't work still, I'm still a man, but I've mutilated myself. What a horrible awakening that is for these kids. And then they commit suicide and you can't reverse all that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

No, you can't.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

But you're still a guy or you're still a girl like God made you. Yeah. There's not 75 genders, there's two.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Right. No, and I think a lot more people agree with that than don't, even if they won't say it publicly. Uh because you know, behind closed doors, when you see people can vote on a poll or, you know, or they put their thing out there, you know, behind closed doors, polls say a much different thing when it's anonymous versus you know, when they feel like they're being publicly pressured if they don't say something one way or the other. Some folks will tend to change things. But yeah, you know, it for a final question, I know your your time's valuable. If someone's watching this, right, and they're skeptical of everyone in politics right now, what would you say to them in one sentence?

SPEAKER_00 36:36

Well, again, it's all about just like the word says, how do you know a man is who he is? Look at the fruit in his life. So being married for 38 years, raising children in a godly home, they're all saved, they're all doing good, they're not on drugs. They can show you the fruit in their life. They both have their own homes. They're debt-free, they're working hard, they're raising children, they're going to church every time it's open. They're making sure they're allowing their kids that are probably going to be homeschooled. Right now, Aria, our six-year-old granddaughter, is in a Christian school three days a week, and then she starts first grade next year, and uh, they're probably going to homeschool her because the curriculums in our schools corrupt. So, no, I realize God's God, and I'm not. I can't do anything without him. I can do all things with him. I've I've strengthened my faith. I've gone around the world on mission trips. We're sharing the gospel with everybody. We can show you the fruit in our employees here that have been here. One of the one of my guys I led out of addiction, he's retired now. I hired him in 1993. He started at 650 an hour back then as a kind of sweeping the floors, and I made him a job because he said, give me a chance. I like to eat. He didn't know when he where or how he would get food again. And uh I discipled him and he just retired, and he talked about it when he would give his testimonies in recovery meetings. You know, my mom used to not let me come to her home because I would steal from her and go in her pocketbook and get her credit card and steal her medicine out of her cabinet. But now Mr. Lynch gave me a set of keys. I'm the manager and I'm trusted with a multimillion dollar business, and he would just break down in tears. That's the kind of stuff I can show you in my life I've done, and I'm willing to keep serving until the day I die. And I'll serve the American people and the citizens of my state that I love, South Carolina, born and bred here. I'm a lifelong South Carolinian, and I'm committed to serve you. I know what it is to give. That's when we receive it. And um it's doable, you know. No, it is again. You have to make an educated decision out there what you get. We we don't have that with our current senator. He's he's failing us in every way. One of my biggest issues, you know, our our signers of the Declaration of Independence agreed. We're endowed by our Creator, God, the one true God, with certain unalienable rights. And the first right is life, you know, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. The first one is life. And I will fight with everything I have to end the murder of our children in the womb. And some people don't like that, and I'll lose your vote. But I'm going by what God says. God creates life at conception, and he chooses for and decides and designs every life he creates with a purpose. It might not be convenient, it might have happened through a violent rape or whatever. I've met the kids, Joseph, that said, My mother tried to kill me through an abortion, and I'm glad it didn't work because I'm here. And these people are productive members of society fulfilling God's design and purpose for their life. That's why he created them. You know, if a if a pregnant woman has a car accident and is killed by a drunk driver and the baby dies, it's a double homicide. Satan has us believing it's my body, I can do what I want to with it. Your body's your body, but the baby inside your body is another human, and we can't murder it. It's not okay to murder. So um, those are some of my strong beliefs. I won't compromise on that. Uh, we got to get back to that. We've murdered over 64 million of our own in this country since Roe B. Wade got overturned in 1973. We've stopped it at a federal level again. With the power's given back to the states, and in our our state, you can still murder babies up to 12 weeks. Is that okay? No, it's not. Uh, we have a heartbeat bill. That is garbage. Satan sold that hook, line, and sinker. We're murdering more children in our state now than before the heartbeat bill because they got in another thing, some pork into the bill. You know how they add more different things and sneak them in, and they snuck in the do-it-it-yourself at home abortion pill. And those are hard to track and count how many we're killing. Wow. So anyway, there's a lot to do. I'm tired of it. Enough's enough. You know, God asks us, if not you, who? Right. And if not now, when? So that's the question. Yeah. That's a t. Everything that's happened in my life so far, I tell God, thank you. And to everything yet to come, yes, let's do it. Send me.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

And that's what people I mean, people need to hear these things. Marcus, you know, I appreciate you coming out and have this conversation. I felt like we really covered a lot, and people hopefully got to know a little bit more who you are. Because to me, you know, like I say on this show all the time, that to me is how you're gonna lead. You know, is when people know who you are. And that's that's how people lead when we know who our leaders are, rather than just the blink talking point, and then they you don't hear from them for six months. Right. You know, in your little bit of a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 41:47

We're gonna have stuff we've never thought about that's gonna come before our desk in Congress.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Right. And it's important that people know how to do that.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:56

And that and that's that's that's what I always go after. You need to know the process of how they think and how they're to know because you can present the best idea ever, but generally nothing comes out of Congress the same way it went in. Like no, no bill ever does, but very few. So it's important to know how your leaders think. Uh you know, for everyone watching, this is what we do here. Mark, I really appreciate you coming on today.

SPEAKER_00 42:19

Thank you. You know, people's people want to hear what they can do, and sometimes we have a conversation and we miss the last five yards to take it across the finish line. Go to my website at lynch4senate.com, L-Y-N-C-H, F-O-R-Senate.com. This is an important race. We gotta stop the stupid. And how can you help number one, pray for us? This is a spiritual battle. Number two, everybody has these things that we abuse and get addicted to. You have a contact list. I have hundreds of names. Call everybody you know if you believe in me. If you don't, call for who you do believe in. But how can you help a campaign win? We can't knock every door. I can't speak to every every voter in South Carolina. This is a statewide race, but you can contact your people, they can contact their people, and take take an hour at night after supper and call 20 people and tell them about me. That would be so helpful. Thank you for doing that. And then go to our website if you feel led to help our campaign. You know, the hard part is I put five million in. It's gonna take a little more, not a lot, but we need some more. Send some money and just a donation, show people faith that this guy may be the guy. Look at all the donations he's receiving. That really helps. It takes a little money to make a difference. And we've got to all get involved. And if you want to volunteer and help us and get on call banks, be willing to knock doors and at least put a sign in your yard or somewhere in your community where they allow you to do that. Thank you for doing that. Be a part of a great grassroots movement to get a true conservative in to replace somebody that's that's failing us.

unknown 44:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

I'm not attacking the guy, but I have a right to talk about his record because he works for me. He works for you, and we're not getting what we're paying for. Let's change it. We gotta do what we gotta do to change it. That's very key.

SPEAKER_01 44:20

You know, everybody, his all his links, just in case you didn't hear it, or everything will be down in the description. You'll be able to find everything from Mark down in there. Don't forget to check it out. Um, all right, Mark, I appreciate you coming on. Everybody, subscribe if you want more conversations like this. Go check Mark out. Seems like a very good man. You know, look at what he has to say. Listen to this interview again, share it with someone that you know. You know, these are how our leaders are made. This is how the future is made, and every election, the future is now. So, you know, check Mark out.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

Yes. And to the viewers out there, Joseph, thank you for having a format for just real conversation. That's invaluable. God bless you and what you're doing in this country. Thank you. Yeah, it's yeah, it's tough. Because we've all realized the Local the the national news, some of that we cannot trust anymore. And so having an alternative way to still communicate and get the truth out. Thank you. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

The independents that may feel a little bit of a certain way. They have a maybe have a little bit of party loyalty, maybe they don't. And giving them back to the table because they felt so disillusioned by everything that's going on. They don't know which way to turn their head anymore. You got some people that used to be Republicans with faith that just feel lost. Same with some people that are on the left. People just don't know what direction to go in anymore and they're lost.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Yeah, I agree. So it's crazy. And so we gotta, we gotta fight. We gotta fight to stop all this craziness. So that's why I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

All right, Mark. I appreciate you coming on and I hope you have a good day.

SPEAKER_00 45:51

Thank you. God bless you, Joseph. Sounds awesome.