Your SC politics briefing
Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.
The abortion ban bill, otherwise known as H. 5399, is officially dead for the year.
On Wednesday, a day after the midterm elections, the Senate rejected a restrictive abortion proposal that would have banned the procedure at conception without an exception should the fetus have a fatal anomaly.
The 23-21 vote came as no surprise after the Senate’s Republican leader explained, repeatedly, for weeks that the 46-member upper chamber lacked the votes necessary to pass a near-total ban on abortion.
“You’ve got amateurs over there (in the House) playing legislative strategy, and they don’t know what they’re doing,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said.
Massey’s remarks and a subsequent meeting in which no House negotiators showed capped what had been months of contentious hearings, a flurry of votes and legislators pointing the finger at who was to blame, while Democrats mostly sat aside.
House Speaker Murrell Smith — who was elected speaker in April amid a leadership turnover in an increasingly Republican-controlled chamber that has split into factions — said he agreed with Massey that it was “amateur hour,” but not from the House.
McMaster wins big, Weaver elected schools chief
Gov. Henry McMaster won reelection to a second four-year term as South Carolina’s chief executive, an historic win that puts the Columbia Republican on track to become the longest-serving governor in state history.
The election night win is the latest victory in a 40-year-plus political career for McMaster, a former prosecutor, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s U.S. attorney in South Carolina and first held public office when he was elected the state’s attorney general in 2002.
McMaster beat Democrat Joe Cunningham by about 17 points, more than his previous 2018 win.
Republican Ellen Weaver, one of the state’s foremost champions of private school choice, was elected South Carolina’s next superintendent of education.
A non-educator who has spent her career working in Republican politics and leading a conservative think tank, Weaver defeated Democrat Lisa Ellis, a veteran teacher and founder of grassroots teachers group SC for Ed, by nearly 13 points, according to unofficial election results.
Read more: SC voters have spoken, telling lawmakers to save more money in each year’s spending plan
Voters oust Richland GOP lawmaker
Democrat Heather Bauer, who ran her campaign solely on the right to abortion access, defeated 10-year Republican incumbent Rep. Kirkman Finlay who represents the sole swing district in Richland County.
Bauer won with 51% of the vote to Finlay’s 49% — a 234 vote margin, according to unofficial results.
“This race proves a very big point that if you take our rights, we’ll take your seat,” Bauer told reporters after the election. “I hope that this campaign can be a good strategy for other Democrats across the state to prove a point the next session.”
Bauer’s election was a highlight for SC Democrats who otherwise had a rough election night.
Republicans picked up 7 seats in the House and flipped 5 seats held by Black Democrats in the process.
Incumbent Democratic lawmakers Anne Parks, Kimberly Johnson, Chardale Murray, Krystle Matthews and Shedron Williams all fell to Republican opponents. Republicans also won 3 seats held by Democrats that had been transformed into safe red districts during last year’s redistricting cycle.
The net gain of 7 seats and the replacement of Rep. Rick Martin gives the GOP an 88-36 advantage.
Buzz Bites
▪ Six South Carolina statewide elected officials, including attorney general and schools superintendent, will each get a sizeable pay bump next year. Pay for two of those officials will more than double.
▪ A Midlands school district embroiled in multiple controversies over the last two years is expected to see a slate of new faces on its board of trustees. Voters have elected four newcomers to the Lexington-Richland 5 school board.
▪ The South Carolina inspector general’s office has released a critical report into dysfunction on the Richland 2 school board, just days before voters decide who will oversee instruction for the district’s 112,847 students in the coming years.
▪ Angela Joy’s “Black is a Rainbow Color” will remain in Lexington-Richland 5 district schools after it was unanimously deemed “acceptable and appropriate” by an appointed committee.
▪ Republican Don Weaver will be the next Richland County councilman in District 6.
▪ The Lexington-Richland 5 school district spent almost $9,000 in a nearly year-long lawsuit against its former superintendent.
▪ The three-way mayor’s race in tiny Saluda is headed to a runoff. In an unlikely turn of events, the current mayor Amelia Herlong and challenger Miliken Matthews, a town councilman, earned exactly the same number of votes — 242.
Mark your calendar
Nov. 11
Deadline for county boards to certify election results
Nov. 14
Judicial Merit Selection Commission hearings to vet judicial candidates begins
Nov. 17
State Board of Canvassers meets to certify election results
Dec. 6-7
SC House organizational session
Before we adjourn
This week, former Hampton banker Russell Laffitte, a purported accomplice in white-collar theft schemes masterminded by disgraced lawyer and accused killer Alex Murdaugh, went on trial for financial fraud charges.
Laffitte faces six counts of banking and wire fraud, crimes involving nearly $2 million he allegedly stole and misused in concert with Murdaugh.
The trial will pick up next week. Here are some highlights from the first week of trial you probably missed:
Day 1: Alex Murdaugh was confronted day of murders about missing legal fees, prosecutor says
Day 2: Laffitte ‘stole’ money from accounts he supervised, says cousin and SC bank board member
Day 3: Russell Laffitte did not have SC bank approval to make Murdaugh payments, official testifies
Pulling the newsletter together this week was Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter), senior editor of the The State’s politics and state government team. You can keep up with her on Twitter and send her tips on Twitter at @MaayanSchechter or by email mschechter@thestate.com.
To stay on top of South Carolina politics and election news, you can chat with us on Facebook, email us tips and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.
