Mount Pleasant pilot announces bid for Congress

A Mount Pleasant Air Force reservist who piloted a jet headed to New York as the 2001 terrorist attacks unfolded says he’ll run for Congress.

Colonel Robert Burton of Mount Pleasant will run as a Democrat in the 1st Congressional District and will likely face Robert Dodds and Richard “Dick” Withington in the June 2010
Democratic primary.

Burton plans to retire as an Air Force reservist next year.

He graduated from the University of South Carolina and was a member of the South Carolina National Guard.

He says his top issue as a member of Congress would be reforming Social Security.   

Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Henry Brown faces a challenge from GOP candidates Carroll “Tumpy” Campbell and Katherine Jenerette.