About

I'm Reid Beaman and I am running for the South Carolina House of Representatives District 87 seat in Lexington in the 2026 General Election. 

I don’t really want to sound like the same old state house politician because I’m not one of them. Truthfully, I’m just a simple southern comic book artist with the hope to make life better for everyone in the state of South Carolina.

My twin brother and I were born in a small town called Tarboro, which is located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Now, Edgecombe County just so happens to be the poorest county in eastern North Carolina. My mother was a special education teacher and my father is a Desert Storm veteran. He's also a family physician's assistant who provides medical care to several health clinics throughout the local area. In addition to my parents, my maternal grandparents also played a crucial role in raising me and my brother.

My grandfather was the son of sharecroppers, and he was a Korean War veteran who worked his way up in a small tool-and-dye shop in Tarboro. He eventually retired as a foreman after 30 years on the job. My grandmother was a switchboard operator at Carolina Telephone in Tarboro, retiring early when my brother and I were born so that she could help our mother. Twins are a lot of work and my grandparents were no strangers to hard work. They had done it all their lives and continued to do it well into their golden years. 

My grandparents never treated me and my brother as grandsons; they treated us like we were their sons. They were just as important in my life as my mama and daddy, and they helped form the foundation of the type of man I am today. 

My grandparents both suffered growing up during the Great Depression, when food was scarce and money was nonexistent. My grandfather hand-picked cotton alongside his two brothers and sister to help put food on the table. They lived in a two-bedroom shack with a single light bulb and an outhouse out back. My grandmother was the oldest of her four siblings. Her father was crippled, and he was hunched over by scoliosis and arthritis so bad he couldn’t stand up straight to look you in the eye. This left my grandmother and her mother to fend for the family. They relied on the assistance the government could give them thanks to the Social Security Act of 1935. My grandmother took any odd job she could find, from working in the fields for other families to driving the county school bus during her last two years of high school. But no matter how hard she and my great-grandmother worked, they never had enough money for new shoes or clothes. The holes in their clothes were patched with rags, and their shoes were either too big or too small for their feet. They relied on the kindness of churches and the Salvation Army to supply them with the clothes and shoes they had. I can still picture my grandmother crying Christmas mornings when I was growing up at how lucky we were to have a Christmas, with a tree, wrapped presents under it, and plenty of food for all of us to eat. Her Christmases as a child were always supplied by the Salvation Army and those childhood memories never left her. She’s 92 years old and blessedly still with us.

Those stories, those memories of my grandparents' past helped shape me into the man I am today. I know that poverty changes you. It cuts deep to the very marrow of our bones. But being poor in America is not a moral failing. Passing laws that blame the poor for being born poor, abandoning the sick to their suffering, and turning away the hungry at the door? Now that is a moral failing! 

To believe that we are not all connected as one people - as Americans, as South Carolinians, as human beings - is an insult to the very bonds of Christian brotherhood that supposedly drives the rhetoric of the South Carolina state house. Our representatives say that they are driven by Christian beliefs and values, but time and time again they come together and vote against the very best interests of those who need help the most in this state. This has to change!

If there's a child in Lexington who can't read, it matters to me that they get the help they need, even when it's not my child. If there's a senior in South Carolina who can't afford their medication or food or heating and air because of increasing costs, that matters to me, even when it's not my grandparent. If there are Hispanic American families being rounded up by ICE, without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties and my right to a fair trial afforded me by the Constitution. And it affects yours. That scares the daylights out of me. I believe that we are all one people connected by the love of humanity and that we need to do the right thing by one another. We need to love our neighbor.

Most people don’t expect politicians to solve all their problems, but we should be able to expect them to represent our interests, as they swore to do. When people know they are being looked after, that their representative actually cares about them and their needs, and that their children have a decent shot at a better life, then maybe they can sleep a little better at night. In America, we should be able to tuck our children in at night and know that they are well fed, warmly clothed, and safe from undue harm. As Americans, we should be able to freely speak our minds as is afforded us in the First Amendment, and express our concerns and criticisms without secret police knocking at our door the next morning. As Americans, we should be able to participate as our forefathers did in the political process without the fear of being imprisoned or killed because we have differing political opinions. 

One of God's greatest gifts to us is that there are better days ahead. We as Americans believe in that statement so strongly that in 2021, DC Comics updated Superman’s classic motto from “Truth, Justice, and the American way” to “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow.” I believe that we are all standing at the crossroads of history here in South Carolina. I believe that we can make a better tomorrow for ALL the citizens of this state, regardless of political affiliation, and that maybe, just maybe, the real Christian value of “Love thy neighbor” can flourish in the state house. Thank you and may God bless you all.