Lexington County’s new GOP leaders came to ‘Save SC.’ Now, can they be saved from themselves?

A group of Lexington County Republicans who called themselves the “Save SC” slate won control of the county party leadership in April, representing a change in approach to local elections.

Leading them was Pamela Godwin, an organizer of Women for Trump, who won the chairmanship by default after her opponent dropped out of the race, though it was clear Godwin had the majority of votes behind her.

Godwin, along with 1st Vice Chair Mark Weber, 2nd Vice Chair Richard Gehling and 3rd Vice Chair John Allen made sure those in the so-called establishment were out of power, at least when it came to the steering committee to lead the party. They said they wanted more transparency and accountability in how the party is run.

As soon as the new leadership took hold, the party adopted a resolution opposing mandatory vaccinations, a stance previous leadership blocked, and moved to take involvement in local nonpartisan races.

“We have definitely changed the tone to include hearing all voices and addressing issues that conservatives really care about,” newly elected chairwoman Godwin said at the time.

But the unified tone of the party officers took a turn just a few months later, and that executive leadership group has now splintered. On one side, Godwin has support from Gehling and State Executive Committeeman Lanneau Siegling. On the other, Weber and Allen are the voices of a group calling for Godwin’s removal and circulating a petition among executive committee members, according to the party’s Facebook page.

The leadership dysfunction has become a public spectacle at times recently. And if the turmoil continues, it could ruin the reputation of the county party so that very few people take it seriously, and it could even hurt Republicans at the ballot box if the mess distracts party members from organizing and turning out voters.

Weber and Allen say Godwin is incapable of running the party, hasn’t started the necessary committees and demands absolute loyalty to her. Godwin says any accusations made against her aren’t true.

State Rep. Jay Kilmartin, R-Lexington, who has allowed Godwin to hold what she calls her MAGA faction strategy sessions at the Melting Pot, a Columbia restaurant he owns, said the dysfunction may hurt the party’s reputation outside of the county.

“I think some of the good resolutions that we passed are going to get laughed at,” Kilmartin said. “They’re going to seem ineffective because the news coming out of the party should be working towards a goal or censuring politicians that don’t follow the Republican creed. When they get censured in the future, it will mean nothing. It will be just like, ‘They’re just a bunch of crackpots.’”

But the fighting, he said, has appeared to be juvenile.

“It’s a lot of middle school tit for tat. It’s really ridiculous. I was hoping when leadership changed, they would pull people together,” Kilmartin said.

‘Manipulation and tyrannical tactics’ or ‘lies and propaganda’?

Weber and Allen question their one-time ally Godwin’s basic competence as an organization leader, including whether she has the ability to carry out the basics of running a meeting, such as setting up the proper committees and listening to opposing views.

Among the strongest accusations against Godwin is that she closed a party bank account and moved more than $6,800 of the party’s money — which was supposed to be used for candidate events or to seed other fundraisers — somewhere no one else in the party apparently knows, according to Weber.

The group led by Weber and Allen is considering taking action regarding the money’s mystery movement, including potentially filing a police report or a filing with a magistrate judge.

Godwin, when reached for comment last Monday, briefly referred to efforts to remove her and accusations as “all lies and propaganda.”

She said she was unable to speak further because of another meeting and asked for questions to be sent via email. She did not respond to questions.

In an unsigned post Aug. 9 on the Lexington County Republican Party Facebook page, before the Weber and Allen group was able to take over the page, the writer said an accusation the money was stolen is false.

“This is KNOWN to be a lie from those spreading it!” the post read. “The limited party funds turned over to this administration REMAIN where they were, in the bank, to this day! The interim treasurer had to be replaced, weeks ago, and her lack of access to the party account, doesn’t constitute theft of any kind! In fact, those spreading the lies KNOW the money is sitting in an LCRP account in the same bank as before.”

Those who want to see Godwin resign say she insists on loyalty to her as opposed to the party.

According to a packet put together by the group opposing Godwin, the chairwoman shuts out any views that oppose hers, such as who to support for the state party chairman during the state party convention. They are frustrated with Godwin’s attacks on fellow party members on social media or private messenger apps. They also accuse Godwin of holding “MAGA Night” gatherings that are not open to all county Republican Party members.

Video of one gathering shows Weber and Allen being told to leave after being told by Godwin they didn’t RSVP and an unidentifed man remarking, “You guys said you’re not MAGA.”

“We’ve come to the MAGA meetings so many times,” Allen responded.

Godwin then said in the video she’s seen threats and subversions against her.

During a specially called executive committee meeting on Aug. 3, Godwin attempted to give a chair’s report, which included reading from a set of emails from February that Godwin labeled as “Take out MAGA group.”

The emails described a strategy to prevent Godwin and her slate from winning party officer positions on the steering committee.

That meeting devolved into repeated shouting matches, with attendees yelling at each other they were “out of order.”

The executive committee meeting itself started late, and organizers tried to keep out people from outside of Lexington County, including media, over the objections of other leaders in the county party.

After the Aug. 3 display, Weber said Godwin is unable to run a meeting and doesn’t even consider logistics of holding a meeting, such as setting up chairs and microphones. He also pointed to how she hasn’t set up a finance committee, audit committee or hospitality committee.

“There’s just a lot of things that she just doesn’t follow the rules,” Weber said. “She’s been involved supposedly in the Republican Party for years, but she apparently doesn’t understand the rules enough to be able to run the county party.”

Four days later, factions within the county party leadership held dueling meetings.

Attendees at Weber and Allen’s meeting called for Godwin to resign from the chairmanship, and the executive committee gave Weber authority to make sure the party’s finances are safeguarded and secure.

“As much as I love Pamela and have stood by her through thick and thin, I cannot and will not in good conscience stand by and allow her to lead this party through manipulation and tyrannical tactics,” Allen said. “She must step down as chairwoman so we can save the integrity of this body before it’s too late.”

Those in the wing of the party against Godwin are even questioning previous moves made during her tenure.

For one, the party voted Aug. 7 to rescind a censure it had previously handed down to Rebecca Blackburn Hines, the chairwoman of the Lexington-Richland 5 school board. The party censured Hines in July after she “failed to attempt to enact policy or attempt to enact disciplinary actions” over a Chapin High School teacher’s plan to include a book concerning racism in an Advanced Placement language arts class.

But later, the party in a news release apologized to Hines “for the embarrassment and distress the censure caused. Proper procedure was not followed by (Godwin) in the preparation and voting of the censure originally.”

At Godwin’s Aug. 7 meeting, which she closed to the press, she suspended Allen and Weber from Lexington County Republican Party meetings for three months. She even sent them letters notifying them of their suspensions.

Weber said Godwin had no authority to suspend the two vice chairmen.

Party dysfunction could have ramifications

Having functioning county political parties — especially in the sixth-largest county in the state, which is viewed as a Republican stronghold — is important. And when a party hasn’t functioned well in the past, other groups have formed.

For instance, when the Greenville County Republican Party elected Jeff Davis as chairman in a bitter leadership vote in 2021, establishment Republicans formed the Fourth District Republican Club and became a place for candidates to speak to conservative voters.

Ultimately, the party structure exists to elect Republicans to office and recruit candidates, while policy groups exist to push certain objectives and legislation. County parties are responsible for organizing, getting the message out and raising money. Not carrying out those tasks could lead to smaller voter turnout and possible losses at the ballot box.

Party meetings may not be productive in the long run if leadership only concentrate on being angry about singular actions done by elected officials and issuing censures.

While the South Carolina Republican Party declined to comment on the internal Lexington County party issues, elected officials from Lexington County are hoping for a resolution so the party can move forward.

State Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, said if the party leadership can’t work together, it only hurts the party.

“I think there’s a lot of senseless bickering from folks who are supposed to be on the same side, and if we don’t work together to find common ground, we’re never going to get anything accomplished, and the Joe Biden administration will continue to indoctrinate our entire community and our country,” Wooten said. “If we don’t start trying to stick together, we’re literally shooting ourselves in the foot.”

State Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, who was censured by the county party in June after her vote against an abortion ban, has avoided the party meetings until leadership can work out the dysfunction. Shealy, a former chairwoman of the county party, said it’s wrong for a county party leader to publicly support a candidate before a primary election.

“I’m glad they’re trying to work something out. I hope that the best people win, because we’ve got elections coming up,” Shealy said. “The GOP doesn’t need to take sides with the candidates. One side is taking sides, and they need to know they can’t do that. They need to get their ground rules straight. Being a past chairman, I know what the rules are, and one side is not following the rules. So I hope they get it straight.”

As for Weber, he’s still confident the Lexington County party is strong, despite the leadership’s public dysfunction.

“People are really active and involved,” Weber said. “There’s still a lot of people that are really ticked off about the way things are going nationwide, and that motivates them at the local level. So I would definitely not characterize it as imploding. We’re trying to do some house cleaning.”