Tag Archives: South Carolina

The Guardian reports: Tim Scott formally launched his presidential campaign on Monday, joining a growing field of Republican candidates looking to capture their party’s nomination and rob Donald Trump of another opportunity to face off against Joe Biden next year. “Under President Biden, our nation is retreating away from patriotism,” Scott told a cheering crowd at Charleston Southern University in …

Charleston’s ABC affiliate reports: Charleston County Democrats released a statement Sunday demanding an apology and retraction from Gov. Henry McMaster for comments made during a South Carolina Republican convention Saturday. According to The State reporter Joseph Bustos, McMaster said: “I look forward to the day that democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs.” Bustos was live-tweeting …

The Associated Press reports: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina made it official Friday: He’s running for president. Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring his intention to seek his party’s nomination in 2024. His candidacy will test whether a more optimistic vision of America’s future can resonate with GOP voters who have …

Axios reports: Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s not-yet-official campaign for president is launching a $6 million ad buy in several states early next week. The move suggests the South Carolina senator will be able to boost his profile with voters as he tries to be heard over better-known GOP contenders such as former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who …

ABC News reports: The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether South Carolina’s congressional districts need to be redrawn because they discriminate against Black voters. The justices said Monday they would review a lower-court ruling that found a coastal district running from Charleston to Hilton Head was intentionally redrawn to reduce the number of Democratic-leaning Black voters and to make …

The Associated Press reports: Embattled South Carolina Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom will resign next month after a $3.5 billion accounting error in the year-end financial report he oversaw. The state’s top accountant will leave the elected post he has held for 20 years on April 30. The Senate panel investigating the error issued a damning report last week that suggested …

Law & Crime reports: Seventeen Republican lawmakers in South Carolina sponsored a bill that would redefine “person” under the state’s criminal law to include a fertilized egg. Should the measure pass, it would mean that under the state’s penal code, a pregnant person who undergoes an abortion could be subject to all applicable punishments, including the death penalty. Chairman of …

Columbia’s The State reports: A 15-year-old student at River Bluff High School says she was physically assaulted by a teacher for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Now her parents are suing Lexington School District One, Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait, River Bluff Principal Jacob Smith, River Bluff teacher Nicole Livingston and the S.C. Department of Education on her behalf. On …

Charleston’s CBS affiliate reports: North Charleston Police have charged a man with more than a dozen counts after investigating claims he had touched underage girls without their consent. Vernon Willis, 26, faces 13 counts of second-degree assault and battery, according to jail records. Police say detectives were able to identify 10 victims ranging in age from 13 to 16 years …

Myrtle Beach’s ABC affiliate reports: A new bill introduced in the South Carolina Statehouse could put the death penalty on the table for women who get an abortion. House Bill 3549 is an amendment to the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023 and would define “person” to include an unborn child at any stage of development. This would …

The Columbia State reports: A Greenville woman was arrested earlier this week and charged with performing or soliciting an abortion. In October 2021, the then-33-year-old woman sought medical help at St. Francis Hospital after having labor pains, according to a Greenville Police Department incident report. A warrant for her arrest was signed in 2022, Greenville Police Sgt. Johnathan Brown said. …

Fox Business reports: South Carolina state Senator Stephen Goldfinch proposed a bill, dubbed the “Yankee tax,” that would require new residents to pay up to $500 to move to the Palmetto State. If passed by state referendum, new residents moving from out-of-state would be required to pay two one-time fees, $250 for new driver’s licenses and $250 for vehicle registrations. …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis is a distant second in a South Carolina poll, far behind front runner Donald Trump when it comes to the preference of Palmetto State Republicans. The survey includes a pair of home state hopefuls. One was former Gov. Nikki Haley, who officially entered the 2024 presidential race this week. The other is U.S. Sen. …

The Hill reports: Nikki Haley, the newly minted Republican presidential candidate, called on Wednesday for mandatory “mental competency tests” for politicians over the age of 75, an implied dig at President Biden and her one-time boss, former President Donald Trump. Speaking at a rally in Charleston, S.C., kicking off her 2024 White House bid, Haley ran through a litany of …

The Hill reports: Former Vice President Pence is traveling to South Carolina on Monday amid increasing speculation that he’s eyeing a 2024 White House bid and following former President Trump’s visit to the state last month. Pence will visit with local law enforcement officials, including Chief Reggie Burgess, while in North Charleston and participate in a law enforcement roundtable, according …

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: Cementing what has been in the works for months, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will formally announce she is running for president and will seek the Republican nomination for her party’s 2024 ticket, The Post and Courier has learned. According to an invitation soon going out to her backers, Haley’s advertised “special announcement” …

Charlotte’s Fox affiliate reports: School lessons on slavery are taught nationwide in classrooms, but a South Carolina Representative proposed bill could change that. Dr. Jermaine Johnson wants to ban educators from teaching about slave owners in schools across the Palmetto state. He says he’s just trying to make a point. “Anybody that’s a slave owner, that includes George Washington, was …

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump is planning to hold his first public campaign event of the year in South Carolina, in what aides are portraying as a first step into a more public phase of his 2024 White House run. Trump is slated to make an appearance in late January in Columbia, S.C. It will not be a rally, …

Charleston’s CBS affiliate reports: A South Carolina priest who served in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston has been charged with federal sex crimes stemming from allegations that he abused an 11-year-old child. Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, known in the church as “Father Gonzalez,” was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami. A recently unsealed indictment shows Gonzalez-Farias, 68, was …

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: The state Supreme Court has thrown out South Carolina’s law that bans abortions at roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, calling it unconstitutional. In a 3-2 split decision, justices ruled that privacy rights inserted in the state constitution do extend to a woman’s right to an abortion. The Legislature has the authority to set …