Anderson Independent Mail Staff Reports Tuesday, February 2, 2010
ANDERSON — Anderson businesswoman Anne Thayer says she will run for the South Carolina District 9 House of Representatives seat currently held by Michael Thompson.
Thompson has been rumored to have decided not to run again, but he declined to comment Tuesday. “I’m not going to confirm anything right now, “he said. “But I will be sending out a statement in the next couple of days.”
Liz Holmes, president of the Anderson County Republican Party said she had not discussed his intentions with him in depth.

“I understand through our discussions, though, that he may have some other opportunities,” she said.

Holmes said no one else has announced plans to run for the seat. Filing for the seat opens in March.

Thayer, an Anderson real estate businesswoman, said she was energized to start her campaign.

“I had been having that desire for a while,” she s

aid. “The doors just sort of opened up and a lot of people asked me to run. I spent a lot of time praying about … in the end, I just felt like God wanted me to do this.” Thayer said that as a small-business owner, as well as a member of the South Carolina Foster Care Review Board, she had come to see problems with government. “I just feel like our government needs to be restructured. We need to make it leaner and more efficient,” she said. “I’m very encouraged with what the legislature is doing right now. They are going back and looking at the employment securities commission. I would like them to review everything like they are reviewing this. I wish they would take on every single entity and look at it under a microscope.”

Thayer said she had great respect for Thompson.

“Personally, I like Michael. I consider him a friend and I support what he’s done,” she said. “He has served the state of South Carolina for the past 10 years.”

Thayer is the mother of three, Brenn, 24; Johnston, 17, and Jordan, 16. Her husband, Mark Thayer, owns The Chiropractic Thayerapy Center, which Anne Thayer also manages.