Check out Walid’s speech in the video below. Upon finishing our petition drive, the people of Lexington County will be able to vote for Walid on the Democratic or Working Families Party line.

Walid Hakim is now seeking Nomination by Petition to be placed on the November ballot for the Democratic Party. The petition requires signatures from 5% of the voters.

With this new task in front of us, we are eager to meet any new challenges that may arise. We humbly ask for your support as we attempt to enable our democratic process to work.

“I encourage everyone that is non-emergency personnel to participate in the general strike on May the first. I believe that a strong message needs to be put out and the people aren’t going to listen unless we bring the economy to a screeching stop for at least one day.”

Dear Walid:

The SC AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE) met April 10th and voted to endorse your candidacy for SC HD 88.

We will be informing our affiliates in the districts with Primary opposition of our endorsement and encouraging them to assist your campaign in any way possible. We will assign key members to work with you and your staff.

While our monetary resources are limited and will be focused on our candidates with opposition, we want to assure you that we will be mobilizing our members around the issues that are important to the working men and women of South Carolina. They will know that you are the candidate the COPE Endorsement Committee has decided best represents those issues.

My opponent, Representative McLain “Mac” Toole, has staked out a position on the other side of this fight, sadly. He was the sole sponsor of legislation that would force low income women to pay more out of pocket for giving birth. He also sponsored legislation which would have placed new regulations on the private insurance market, aiming to make it harder for women to get coverage for reproductive health care with their own hard-earned dollars.

Of all the challenges our state faces, Representative Toole chose to prioritize an assault on the liberty, prosperity, and dignity of South Carolina women. If I am elected to represent the people of Lexington County in the State House I will be a strong advocate for, not against, women’s rights.

Representative McLain “Mac” Toole is bad
for women and families:

H3360:
http://legiscan.com/gaits/text/147289
Rep. Toole is the sole sponsor of legislation that would force low income women to pay more out of pocket for giving birth.

H3406:
http://legiscan.com/gaits/text/182547
Rep. Toole sponsors legislation aimed at making it harder for women to purchase insurance that covers abortion with their own, private money.

H3408:
http://legiscan.com/gaits/text/230053
Rep. Toole sponsors legislation that would allow an employee to refuse to perform an abortion even in an emergency where the woman’s life is at risk.

H4358:
http://legiscan.com/gaits/text/320549
Rep. Toole sponsors legislation that would require anyone claiming “temporary assistance for needy families” to submit to a drug test. The test would be paid for out of pocket by the applicant and those who pass the test would be reimbursed later.

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In many ways, Hakim is an ideal candidate from the Occupy movement. A former Marine from a long line of military men, he’s articulate and savvy, with long wavy hair and a blue blazer over a collarless shirt. While he’s not exactly a political creature, Hakim is experienced — serving as vice chairman of a state-empaneled community relations board — and pragmatic in a way that’s refreshing from a movement that can feel shrill.

The first vote Hakim cast was for Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992, and he later served as the executive director of the South Carolina Libertarian Party — that is, until he resigned and publicly rebuked the party. People had told him libertarians didn’t care about the poor, and after ruminating on the policy goals he was pushing, he couldn’t help but agree. He joined Occupy Columbia on day one and was arrested with 18 others during the eviction — substantial movement bona fides.

An eighth generation South Carolinian, Walid moved to Lexington with his family in 1985, graduated Lexington High School in 1989, and afterwards attended Newberry College. After the invasion of Kuwait, the country he called home for many years, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as an Aviation Ordnanceman, and worked as a Military Policeman. After five years of service, he was honorably discharged. Walid worked in his family’s businesses in Columbia for most of the last decade before settling back into Lexington. He has three loving children: Camillia, 20; Cayla, 13; and Sage, 5. Born Greek Orthodox and raised Methodist, he has attended the Unitarian Universalist Congregation for the past 6 years.

His service to country and community continued as he served as the first Interim Executive Director of the South Carolina Libertarian Party in 2003. He continues to dedicate his time to South Carolina as the Vice Chairman of the Greater Columbia Community Relations Council and as Vice President to The Carolina Peace Resource Center.

His belief that South Carolina can reach its full potential is the motivation surrounding his campaign. He plans to invest in the education of our citizens in order to attract high tech jobs. He also hopes to significantly reduce or eliminate state income tax for most workers earning under $100,000. As a disabled veteran, he also expects better care for the men and women that honorably served South Carolina in the U.S. Military. His hope is to serve the people of District 88 of South Carolina in the State House and to see his state’s true potential realized.