Tag: Republican primaries

SCGOP Seeks to Take Power Away from the People

Over the last several years, the South Carolina Republican Party, under the leadership of Chairman Drew McKissick, has turned its back on democracy in favor of a top-down dictatorial approach to running the party.
Two years ago, after county reorganization meetings were held and the SCGOP state convention was complete, McKissick was not happy with newly elected leaders in some counties. As a result, in a July 8, 2021 article in the Charleston Post and Courier, McKissick said he would put his support behind “rival GOP organizations” (in certain counties).
In July 2022, McKissick reconvened the SCGOP state convention with the sole purpose of passing new bylaws that would allow the state Executive Committee to vote to replace elected county leaders, those elected by the majority of county party members at county conventions, and replace them with leaders chosen by McKissick.
Horry County Republican Party Chairman Roger Slagle objected to the reconvening of the state convention because it was counter to the SCGOP bylaws in place at the time. For this objection, the leaders of the HCGOP were condemned by a vote of the State Executive Committee. Slagle and the rest of the HCGOP leadership tendered their resignations at a September 12, 2022, regularly called meeting of the county party.

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Primary Elections Draw Few Voters

We had primary elections for local and state offices in Horry County yesterday and 90 percent of the voters stayed home.

In Horry County, it was basically Republicans voting as Democrats only had three races to vote in, one senate race and two house races, with most of those three districts in other counties.

Luke Rankin easily won the Senate District 33 Republican nomination and Senate District 34 will see a runoff between Reese Boyd and Stephen Goldfinch. Boyd won the Horry County portion of the district, but with Georgetown and Charleston precincts included came in two percentage points behind Goldfinch.

Rankin is an incumbent while Boyd and Goldfinch are vying for an open seat.

As an aside, incumbent Hugh Leatherman easily won the Republican nomination for Senate District 31, making Gov. Nikki Haley zero for three in her endorsements of candidates on the Grand Strand and in the Pee Dee.

There were no contested Republican House races in Horry County.

Angie Jones and Renee Elvis swept to easy victories in the Horry County Treasurer and Horry County Clerk of Courts races for the Republican nomination. Both races were for open seats.

Gary Loftus easily secured the nomination for Horry County Council District 4. Other county council Republican nominations went to Paul Prince in District 9 and Danny Hardee in District 10.

Loftus and Prince are incumbents while District 10 was an open seat.

Scott Thompson and David Cox will face off in a runoff election in two weeks for the Republican nomination for Horry County Board of Education District 4. Other Board of Education Republican nominations went to John Poston in District 8, Chris Hardwick in District 9 and Shanda Allen in District 11.

Will Super Tuesday Clarify GOP Nominee

Voting and caucuses today throughout 10 states could lead to a much clearer picture of the Republican presidential nominee, or not.

Will Mitt Romney break through to be called the eventual nominee, or not?

So many questions, maybe some answers when Super Tuesday is over.

The key states to watch today are Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Additionally, voter turnout must be watched as Republican presidential primary voters so far have been about 10 percent fewer than in 2008.