J. Gresham Barrett, who has held the seat since 2003, has decided not to see re-election as he is throwing his efforts into the South Carolina Governer’s race.
Six candidates will be seeking the Republican Party nomination for the U.S. House Dist. 3 seat in the June 8 primary. Easley residents Rex Rice and Neal Collins join Jeff Duncan, Mike Vasovski, Richard Cash and Joe Grimaud on the ballot.
Easley resident Jane Dyer will face Brian “Ryan B.” Doyle June 8 for the Democractic nomination for the seat.
Dyer challenged Barrett for the U.S. House Dist. 3 seat two years ago. The former Jane Bullard, she is a graduate of Easley High School. She earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Clemson University.
Dyer was commissioned as an officer through Air Force ROTC. She was the first female from Clemson to attend Air Force Pilot Training.
Dyer served in the Air Force as a KC-13 Air Refueling Pilot. During this time she met and maried her Huband John, also a USAF pilot.
The Dyers returned to South Carolina in 988. They have four children and three grandchildren. She has been a pilot for FedEx for the past 20 years.
Her opponent Brian “Ryan B.” Doyle hails from Aiken County. He is currently a student at Kaplan University majoring in public administration.
Doyle is also trained and certified as an emergency medical technician. He owned the first African-American ambulance service in the state of South Carolina.
Neal Collins is an Easley High School graduate. His parents worked in the textile industry. He lettered in baseball and wrestling and served as student government president. He earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
Collins graduated from Furman with a double major in political science and French.
From there he attended the University of South Carolina Law School. After law school, he passed bar exams for both South Carolina and North Carolina. He worked for a defense firm in Charlott, N.C..
He has been in private practice for the past two years. He currently works for Willson, Jones, Carter and Baxley, a workers’ compensation defense firm, in Greenville.
Rex Rice has served in the S.C. House of Representatives since 1995. He is owner/operator of a farming/cattle operation and a general contracting business.
He is a member of Easley Presbyterian Church and the Easley Rotary Club. He is on advisory boards for the Blue Ridge Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Salvation Army.
Rice and his wife Ruth have been married for the 28 years and have two daughters, Toni and Meredith.
Richard Cash owns and operates “Sweet Memories Ice Cream, LLC,” which has 13 ice cream trucks that serve communities in the Upstate. He also owns “Road Runners Autos, LLC,” a used vehicle business located on SC 153 in Powdersville.
Cash has been a volunteer coach for the Pickens County YMCA and Tri County Soccer and is the athletic director of the Easley Home Educators.
Cash is a pro-life activist. He organized the first “Life Chain” in Greenville, bringing together 5,000 volunteers from more than 100 churches. From 1992-1999, he worked for “Pastors for Life.”
Jeff Duncan of Clinton has served in the S.C. House of Representatives since 2002. He is a 1988 graduate of Clemson University, where he played football for Coach Danny Ford.
In 2007, Duncan was named “Legislator of the Year,” by both the S.C. Parks and Recreation Association and the S.C. Wildlife Federation.
He is the chair of the House Education Finance Study Committee.
Joe Grimaud of Greenwood is the CEO of multiple corporations that operate more than 100 Precision Tune franchises across the country.
Grimaud is a retired Air Force pilot.
Dr. Mike Vasovski was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 1988. He then set up private practice in Aiken.
He is the co-founder of the Aiken Free Medical Clinic.
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