SC congressman says he’s ‘coming home’ after next term. GOP challenger says he’s not waiting.

A businessman with decades of fundraising experience is challenging U.S. Rep. William Timmons in the GOP primary, calling the 4th District congressman disconnected from his constituents.

David Atchley of Greenville told the SC Daily Gazette this week he plans to officially launch his campaign Feb. 16, the birthday of his late father Bill Atchley, who was president of Clemson University from 1979 to 1985. He accused Timmons of not being accessible.

In response, Timmons’ team initially accused David Atchley of not even living in South Carolina.

He “needs to explain why he lives in Charlotte, has never supported President Trump, and now thinks he can be a voice for conservatives here in the Upstate,” Liz Willis, a spokesperson for Timmons, said in a statement emailed Monday evening. Timmons, on the other hand, “has lived in South Carolina’s 4th District his entire life,” her statement concluded.

Less than 24 hours later, after the Gazette did some digging into Atchley’s property records, Willis softened that attack line, saying Timmons’ team is still looking into the details.

Atchley acknowledges owning a home in Charlotte, North Carolina, but says he moved back to Greenville two years ago after buying a downtown condo. That address matches voter registration records, which indicate he last voted in November 2024. And he showed the Gazette a driver’s license with that address. Atchley stresses his Upstate ties go back decades.

As for President Donald Trump, Timmons touts getting his endorsement in October. That’s considered a big win for South Carolina’s most compact congressional district, which spans most of just two counties. In 2024, Trump won Greenville County by 22 percentage points and Spartanburg County by almost 34.

Atchley’s take is that Trump’s endorsement shouldn’t guarantee anyone re-election. “There are alternatives out there, and I’m a good alternative that is a Trump fan, too,” he said.

It’s Atchley’s first run for elected office. The 60-year-old said he’s dreamed of doing so since the spring of 1982, when he worked as a page for South Carolina’s longest-serving U.S. senator, the late Strom Thurmond. He said he promised Thurmond that he would run for office one day.

The Republican primary is just four months away.

As of Dec. 31, Timmons’ campaign had $125,100 cash available, compared to Atchley’s $7,600 cash on hand, according to their latest filings.

But Atchley, who began exploring a bid months ago, said raising money to compete with Timmons isn’t a problem.

Atchley has spent much of his career fundraising. In 2013, he launched a consulting company that has helped raise money for colleges, foundations, and real estate developers.

The website of AtchleyWhite + Associates, formerly Atchley Associates, touts helping clients raise over $600 million in the last dozen years. Atchley previously raised money for universities, including Wofford College in Spartanburg and Presbyterian College in Clinton.

Timmons, first elected to Congress in 2018, is no stranger to challengers.

Two years ago, he spent $2.7 million in a bruising GOP contest with state Rep. Adam Morgan, chairman of the House’s uber-conservative Freedom Caucus. Timmons had the backing of Trump then, too, as well as an endorsement from Gov. Henry McMaster. He won by 3 percentage points.

In 2022, he defeated three GOP challengers outright without needing a runoff.

A month later, he faced very public accusations of an affair, which he denied at the time. It ultimately didn’t matter at the ballot box that year, as his Democratic opponent dropped out after getting a job in New York. And after the state Election Commission ruled Democrats couldn’t replace their candidate, Timmons won unopposed that November.

Less than two weeks after the general election, his wife filed for separation, saying in a public statement that the two were divorcing with “love and mutual respect.”

On Friday, Timmons told attendees at a chamber of commerce conference in Spartanburg that this re-election race will be his last, The Post and Courier reported.

“I’m doing this one more term and then I’m coming home, and I’m very excited to be done with it,” he said.

But Atchley said that didn’t dissuade him. He’s ready to run “now, and not two years from now,” he told the Gazette.

The father of two also made clear that his challenge has nothing to do with any of Timmons’ previous marital problems. He’s divorced too, he said.

Unlike Morgan, Atchley is not challenging Timmons on his right flank.

“I put myself, quite simply, as a commonsense Republican that represents the district and everyone in the district,” Atchley said.

And, like previous 4th District congressmen, he’s pledging to term-limit himself. If he wins, Atchley says he won’t stay in Congress more than three terms.

Timmons first won the seat in 2018, two years after voters sent him to the state Senate, after U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy opted not to seek a fifth term.

Former Rep. Bob Inglis, first elected in 1992, adhered to his pledge to leave office after six years.

But in 2004, when then-Rep. Jim DeMint decided to make his successful bid for U.S. Senate — leaving the House seat open — Inglis decided to return to Congress, this time without a term-limit pledge. But Inglis drew Republicans’ ire after shifting from climate change skeptic to champion, and Gowdy ousted him in 2010.