SC Republicans will meet for party reorganization in March where they will elect precinct officers for the County Convention to represent local communities. Photo of SC Republican State Convention 2022, The Standard.

Burning coals are smoldering with potential to burst into flames in the South Carolina Republican Party now, and pressure is building toward an ever-growing split in the party that could leave big scars. It seems the “Grassroots Republicans” are heading toward a take-over by powerful established leaders in the state. Is this a lead-up to the coming battle over the Presidential race in which Nikki Haley has just named herself a candidate? Or something more sinister involving internationals?

While it’s not clear exactly who brought the original “coals,” there is smoke in the air pointing towards top leadership. The result is that many Make America Great Again (MAGA) Republicans feel their voices are being cut off in party leadership and in media.

A precipitating event occurred in June 2021, when the “Rock the Red” conference in Greenville ended in a rash of unexpected “bad feelings” as a the result of one problematic attendee. But what happened next seemed to go well beyond that.

In a related matter, following the resignations of all Horry County Republican Party (HCRP) Executive Committee members last fall, the Chairman, SC State GOP Chairman Drew McKissick—who also co-chairs the National Republican Party in Washington—pulled the rug out from under HC Chairman Rodney Slagle, who had thought to resign then backed out. Against what a number of members said, the SC GOP held a completely new election under what some call “illegal circumstances”.

Jeff Davis, a party member and Chairman of the Greenville County GOP, who posts daily updates said, “While Rodney Slagle talked of resigning, he backed out and held a legal election for new officers. When the State GOP came in and held their OWN election, they just threw out Slagle’s officers and declared their own, including replacing him. The by-laws of the GOP don’t give the State GOP the right to do that,” Davis said. “They’re just stopping the voice of the little man in the GOP.”

By this time, there were lots of flames jumping from a very red GOP fire. This incident of the State Party taking over sparked heat among the rank and file in the South Carolina Republican Party. Smoldering coals became small angry groups working behind the scenes, starting new fires. New groups have been formed whose goal is to fight what they call “the establishment.” While “The Pirates” have arisen as a subgroup who seem to back the “establishment”—the state GOP and other leaders–, a group called “MySCGOP” has arisen to fight the established leaders, in particular, on the state level.

MySCGOP Is A-Blaze Fighting Established SCGOP

MySCGOP has an impressive website and organization with a newsletter that comes right to the point in accusing the SC GOP leaders of taking over the county and local GOP membership.

Image from the MySCGOP. Photo Screenshot 2-26-2023.

From the pages of their latest newsletter, they strike out against the SCGOP leaders with stories like “SCGOP Executive Committee Exposed!” featuring a shot taken from the movie Braveheart urging GOP members to step up to fight and not be silenced—for the sake of their children.

That story covers a special meeting called February 21st of the SCGOP State Executive  Committee to hear the alleged “Rules” broken by the Greenville County Republican Party (GCRP) that lead to the SCGOP “takeover” of the Greenville 2023 Precinct “ReOrg & County Convention.” At the meeting, it says, “basically the meeting was called to order and IMMEDIATELY Chad Connelly, State EC from Newberry, made a MOTION TO ADJOURN. Like immediately… NO DISCUSSION WHATSOEVER!!!”

South Carolina State Law speaks concerning County Conventions at Section 7-9-70, as follows:

SECTION 7-9-70. County conventions.

A county convention must be held during a twelve-month period ending March thirty-first of each general election year during a month determined by the state committee as provided in Section 7-9-100. The county committee shall set the date, time, and location during the month designated by the state committee for the county convention to be held. The date set by the county committee for the county convention must be at least two weeks before the state convention. When a month in a nongeneral election year is chosen for the county convention, it must be held for the purpose of reorganization only. The date, time, and location that the county convention must be reconvened during the general election year to nominate candidates for public office to be filled in the general election must be set by county committee.

Effect of Amendment

2021 Act No. 10, Section 1, deleted the sixth sentence, which required publication of notices for county conventions for reorganization and reconvened county conventions to nominate candidates.

The South Carolina Republican Party Rules (2022) also say State Law must be followed in any conflict:

RULE 2
INTERPRETATION & APPLICATION OF RULES; AMENDMENT; DISTRIBUTIONS; DEFINITIONS
(a) These Rules shall be interpreted and applied so as to substantially accomplish their objectives. All records and lists required by the Rules shall be in writing. The spirit and not the letter of each Rule shall be controlling. Substantial compliance with a Rule shall be sufficient.
(b) The State Executive Committee shall be the final arbiter of all disputes under these Rules or inferior rules adopted under the authority of these Rules.
(c) Should any conflict exist or develop between any of these Rules and the South Carolina election law, the latter shall govern except as to those laws which have been judicially held to be constitutionally unenforceable or which are patently unconstitutional.

—

According to SC State Law the County Committee sets the date, time and location of the County Convention. Precinct delegates will convene to elect representatives who will attend a State Convention as chosen at the County Convention. The Republican Party State Rules also say that State Law shall prevail.

The MySCGOP group concluded that the Greenville GOP did NOT break any rules, so therefore, the special meeting called February 21st was quickly put to rest. MySCGOP had previously publicized that the State Election Law says the county and local leadership must be elected by them locally, and not by the State GOP.

MySCGOP has clearly stated their belief that the State GOP leaders are trying to outmaneuver the county party, at least in Greenville and perhaps statewide. They urge the people to rise up and not accept such tactics.

The MySCGOP and other groups are urging all GOPs to put their “ReOrganization Meetings and Conventions” on top burner for this year, especially. These are the meetings where they elect their leadership and organize precincts. On their website, they state: “TELL EVERYONE YOU CAN about ReOrg 2023 and have them turn out!!! Vote Out the RINOs! Out Vote the Fraud!”

MYSCGOP says concerns are growing about the date for the SC GOP State Convention. Image MYSCGOP website..

Another concern expressed is why the State GOP is dragging its heels in pinning down a date for the State GOP Convention. It seems that the SC GOP is having many issues and difficulties in this new year trying to keep themselves on the right path and the entire state of South Carolina in the Republican and conservative ranks.

Will State GOP Overturn More Leadership & Silence Conservatives?

Some “grassroots” conservative Republicans are complaining that higher leadership does not want “new blood” to gain power across the state. They claim that lists of new Republican voters are not shared by the State GOP office with local leadership in an attempt to keep them away from locals and “grab” their support and votes to maintain their own power and control. It is claimed that a new women’s GOP auxiliary was created by McKissick, for example, and given new voter lists to help support his position and goals—instead of sharing those precious new voter lists with county and local leaders.

Grumblings across the state have been heard in other counties who feel threatened by the power of State leadership in the GOP after the take-over of the Greenville GOP leadership. In Oconee County and Richland County, some GOP members have expressed concern about the possibility of this happening to their local groups.

As it turns out, some significant conservative media personalities have been silenced by confrontations with the SCGOP recently. This is especially true in Horry County (Myrtle Beach) which has been a hotbed of GOP “problems” especially since a Donald Trump Save America rally in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021, and a 2021 “Rock the Red” event in Greenville. These media personalities have not held their piece about the battles between what are known as Republican MAGA conservatives and what are called RINO Republicans and the internal politics of the GOP.

Chad Caton hosted a radio show entitled “I’m Fired Up!” which conservatives, especially MAGA and Republican listeners, enjoyed hearing. Caton lost his show, leaving a large hole for those conservative listeners due to pressure from RINO Republicans in January 2021.

Tracy Beanz is another media personality who helped keep conservatives informed about important news and politics until she was canned by radio station . She has been an investigative journalist since 2001, and now has a program entitled “Uncover D.C.” She was with the Horry County Executive Committee.

The Standard newspaper has also faced fallout from the Horry County State GOP takeover and earlier dealt with a period of “blackout” of its website under suspicious circumstances. Will conservative—especially “grassroots” and MAGA supporters—be silenced little by little until they all no longer have voices to express their important beliefs and feel their votes will not count?

It seems that the SCGOP under the direction of Drew McKissick is heading in a direction toward narrowing the reins of power into its own hands. We reached out to the leadership at the SCGOP to see if they had a response to our concerns but heard no response from them on these issues by press time.

Silencing the voices of dissent and controlling positions of leadership are one way to gain control and move the political goalposts in South Carolina into the hands of certain leaders, essentially focusing power into those in leadership at the top. Changing leadership of county, local and grassroots Republicans and grabbing new voters into that leadership are methods. Unfortunately, this silences plain old everyday voters, including MAGA Republicans who are “Grassroots Republican” and are usually conservative.

Is this a sign that Make America Great Again—Trump supporters—are being targeted in an effort to gain strength for new Presidential candidate Nikki Haley, or are there other factors at work—perhaps even on an international level that may stretch across several oceans to China where growing friction may even be influencing our local elections and political activities? We will continue to dig to find out where this puzzle may lead for answers.

Lisa C. Rudisill, M.T.S., is a magna cum laud graduate of NC State University and Liberty University where she earned a Master of Theology. She writes novels about her family history during the Civil War in North and South Carolina. She is a freelance writer, editorialist and a contributor to The Standard newspaper. Please “like”, comment, share with a friend, and donate to support The Standard on this page to assure the continued availability of news that is ignored too often by the dominant media.