Eunice Lehmacher

About Eunice

For decades, Eunice Lehmacher has served her clients, her family, and her community in a variety of roles. Now she is ready to serve Upstate South Carolina as its Representative in Congress.

Listening, crafting compromises, working through crises, and finding small steps to solve larger problems -- skills essential for any leader – are Eunice’s strengths. But these skills are exactly what is missing in Washington, D.C., today, and that helps explain why our nation is headed in the wrong direction.

“ There’s simply no excuse for the lapse in health insurance funding for millions of us, the reckless brutality of masked, untrained ICE agents, or the imposition of the illegal tariffs that have cost the average household well over a thousand dollars (and counting) so far. There’s no excuse for the outrageous delays in releasing the Epstein files, or the sabotage of our closest alliances and partnerships.”

Eunice and her husband Gerald moved to Clemson in 2002, where they raised their sons Devin and Connor. She's worked as a licensed professional counselor in Oconee and Pickens counties since 2002, including owning her own private practice, working at Oconee Memorial Hospital as a home health and medical social worker, as a hospice social worker, as an employee assistance counselor, and as a counselor for students at Clemson University. She has offered individual and group counseling as well as case management services for adults and families. She created and led support groups for caregivers and people grieving the death of a loved one, developed a program in rural areas for caregivers of persons living with dementia, and has supervised graduate students during their mental health internships. Eunice has often served as a mentor and tutor for clients and others, and has worked to connect neighbors in need to the resources so necessary in these hard times. She's been an active volunteer in the community including at local public schools, her church, and in neighborhood.

“ My forty years’ experience as a counselor, health care professional, classroom teacher, and small business owner have trained me not only to see what needs doing, but how to get things done.”

In her spare time, Eunice enjoys gardening, reading, singing, hiking, walks with Snickers (her chihuahua), visiting her adult sons, watching Star Trek, playing board games, and spending time with family and friends.

In 2024, Eunice was appointed by Governor Henry McMaster to serve on the Mental Health Board for Anderson, Oconee, Pickens Counties. She is also a member of the Sustainability Advisory Committee for the City of Clemson, and has served as a member of Clemson's Police Advisory Board, as president of the Sierra Club Foothills Group, and as president of her neighborhood association. She is a volunteer with Clemson's Shaw Center for Housing and Economic Growth and enjoys teaching courses at Osher LIfelong Learning Institutes, local libraries, and at University Lutheran Church.

“I’ve learned the hard way that problems we face locally require solutions at the federal level. That's why I am running for the US House of Representatives. I love South Carolina’s Upstate and have worked for decades to protect its natural beauty. And I know how to help families and small businesses to thrive.”

With all her activities, accomplishments, and successes, she’s been asked why she would take on the challenge and burden of running as a Democrat in a deep red congressional district. Her answer is straightforward.

“Sheri Biggs, the incumbent, simply isn’t doing her job. She doesn’t understand that our Representative must look at each issue on its own merits. Maybe she doesn’t trust her own judgment enough to think for herself. Maybe she’s afraid to think for herself.

But instead of thoughtful analysis, she’s happy to parrot the administration’s talking points. Unlike several of her Republican colleagues such as South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and Congresswoman Nancy Mace, she hasn't pushed back, even gently, against the obvious excesses and mistakes of the Trump administration.

Rubber-stamping orders from an autocratic president and out-of-touch party leadership is certainly the easy way. But no one said representing us in Congress should be easy.”

Decades of work in health care and education have taught Eunice that the problems she's faced locally often require change at the federal level. That's why she is running to represent South Carolina’s District 3 in the US House of Representatives, where she will continue to advocate for vulnerable populations, fight to protect South Carolina's natural beauty and resources, and foster conditions where families, individuals and small businesses can thrive and grow.