Let's Get Real: The Reason the SCGOP is Controlled

You are going to love and hate me for this take...but it had to be said.

The latest SCGOP convention was rifled with similar chaos that has been on full display for the past several years, leaving attendees with more frustration than what they arrived with. When did South Carolina politics become so riddled with chaos and where does it stem from? In this article, you will get more than just an overview of the 2025 SCGOP convention. Together, we are going to take a close look at how SC politics became so controlled and answer the real question South Carolinians have: where do we go from here?

An Overview of the 2025 SCGOP Convention

The 2025 SCGOP convention issues revolved around the rulings of the credentialing committee and the controversial leadership of SCGOP chairman Drew McKissick, who was running for his 5th term. In a 34-6 vote, the credentialing committee decided to not seat all 24 of the delegates from Pickens County because they allegedly held their county convention at a venue that did not allow sufficient space for all delegates that allegedly resulted in some individuals not being able to participate as delegates. The complainant for the Pickens County challenge, Chris Clark, was contacted for her formal complaint last week but I have not received it at the time of the publication of this article.

There were two other contests from Charleston County and Darlington County and revolved around similar issues. During their county conventions, both Charleston and Darlington counties allegedly passed a rule during their conventions to elect their delegates by slate instead of on an individual basis which has been the conventional method of electing delegates across the state. This resulted in re-electing a similar leadership slate that was already in power in those counties. See the two formal complaints for Charleston County, Debbie Jones’ HERE and Kelly Fowler’s HERE.

You can watch the full video of the Charleston County Convention HERE. Around marker 1:26:24, Chairman Andrew Boucher makes a motion to pass a rule to elect delegates and officers by slate which is passed with some confused “Nos” coming from the back. Around one minute later, a motion was made to elect officers under “Boucher’s slate”. It quickly devolves from there.

Barbara Arthur from Hartsville, SC has been vocal about challenging Drew McKissick at the state convention. However, the credential committee ruled against Arthur’s eligibility after she was not elected as a delegate when Darlington County voted their delegates in by a slate instead of individually. See Arthur’s formal complaint HERE.

Why is Every Convention a Circus?

It seems that every state GOP convention comes with chaos, threats, and an authoritarian form of ruling that is becoming more present than ever. Leadership runs through their script for the day on high speed while delegates that are left out of the loop attempt to use Robert’s Rules of Order to get more information, to elect someone that is not an establishment pick, or to get an accurate count of votes that isn’t a convoluted voice vote whose results are up to the discretion of leadership. Leadership usually does not take kindly to anyone acting off-script, and instead rules them out-of-order, screams them down, and sometimes removes them if they will not stop.

Why does it seem like the entire process and outcome is predetermined? Because many times, it is.

The Definition of Insanity

Why is the GOP reorganization process right in the middle of legislative season? In a state that is controlled by the legislature instead of the governor, you would think the SCGOP would reorganize themselves at a more convenient time. For example, the South Carolina legislative session lasts from January until May and the SCGOP begins their reorganization in March and ends in May (while the prep usually begins in January/February.)

Wouldn’t you think the SCGOP would want their grassroots working to stop tyrannical legislation by minimizing government and promoting the party agenda? Unfortunately, it seems that the SCGOP would rather let the “Republican” supermajority in the SC General Assembly continue to pass unconstitutional and anti-American legislation that scores worse than California and instead distract the active Republican voter by making them think they can have a seat at the table if they participate in the reorganization of the state party.

What the SCGOP doesn’t tell you is that if you want a seat at the big boys table, you have to compromise. What does that compromise look like? On the legislative level, its unopposed races. On the party leadership level, its predetermined rules and procedures.

So, the SC Republican Party distracts the active voters from holding their legislative officers accountable because they are too focused on re-orging their precinct and county to hopefully overtake the state. Then, once reorganization and legislative season come to an end, its all of a sudden primary season. The elected officials that just spent six months screwing you over (without you knowing) now need your help winning their June primary. What happens once you win the primary? Door-knocking. You get to spend the next five months door-knocking for the same guy that just spent the first half of the year passing terrible bills that limit your freedoms. Once your incumbent wins their election you get to celebrate, have Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then start the process all over again every other year.

YOU never “win” in this scenario. Your incumbent just used you to spend the next 2-4 years with his/her buddies in Columbia and SCGOP leaders just used you to solidify their biggest pay day of the year: primary season.

SCGOP’s Cash Cow: Primary Season

Have you ever noticed how many of the leaders in the South Carolina Republican Party are GOP consultants? That means that all of their paychecks come from running Republican campaigns. Ever wondered why the same legislators get elected? Maybe it’s because their buddies (who are running their campaigns) are also helping run the primary and have complete access to voter information. Here are just a few examples of leaders in the South Carolina Republican Party who are also GOP consultants:

SCGOP Chairman, Drew McKissick (2017-Present)

Dorchester County Chair, CJ Westfall (Current)

Berkeley County Chair, John Mace McGrath (Current)

Charleston County GOP Chair, Andrew Boucher (Current)

Former SCGOP Chairman, Luke Byars (2004)

Former SCGOP Chairman, Matt Moore (2013-2017)

Former Dorchester County Chair, Steven Wright (2021-2025)

Former SCGOP Political Director and Director of the SC Senate Republican Caucus, Jason Puhlasky

Former Regional Director for the SC Republican Party Victory program, Micah Rea

Former SCGOP Press Secretary, Matt Orr (also worked in Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office)

Former Executive Director of SCGOP, current Executive Director of the House GOP Caucus, Hope Walker Rossi

Former Executive Director of the SCGOP (under Henry McMaster from 1993-1999), former healthcare/insurance lobbyist, current Chief of Staff to Gov. Henry McMaster, Trey Walker

This list excludes many other prominent figures such as Henry McMaster, who served as the SCGOP Chair from 1993-2002. McMaster was not a political consultant but worked closely with the dirtiest of them all, including the infamous GOP kingpin Richard Quinn.

Why Did The SCGOP Freak Out Over One Article?

In March, Anna Herron published an article that explored the idea of using the convention method instead of the primary method when electing candidates to run for each party. The convention method is provided by the South Carolina code of law and was the way every party elected their candidates in this state up until the late 1980s when primaries became the standard for major Republican nominations in the state. These primaries were internal party events until 2007 when the Republican-controlled legislature made the primaries publicly funded and operated. Read more about it in Herron’s article: Why the Republican Party Should Endorse the Convention Method over the Primary.

The grassroots of the Republican Party have spent almost three decades asking to close the primaries that would only allow register Republicans to vote. The SCGOP has supported this and it is even part of their platform, however, they can’t seem to get any form of legislation passed in their Republican supermajority state. But the real question is: would closed primaries actually solve the real problem?

If the primaries were closed, top SCGOP leaders would still run publicly funded primaries that they make their fortune from. SCGOP leaders and their candidates would still syphon money from the taxpayer and through their private consulting agencies, as well as control voter information.

This was made evident when the SCGOP sent out state-wide text and email campaigns that blasted Herron’s single article all over the state within a couple of days of being published. In the SCGOP’s messaging, they called on elected officials, party donors, and “friendlies” to get their people to reorg because “disrupters within our own party” want to “eliminate every single primary in our state,” “silencing” SC Republican voters. While I will not go too much further here, you can read Herron’s response to the GOP’s reaction HERE.

If Democrat crossover is such a big deal, why doesn’t the GOP want to ensure that only active party members can vote by using conventions which has a huge added bonus of saving taxpayer money? Because they wouldn’t get significant campaign payouts for winning in rigged elections, nor would they gain professional significance in their field for being “winners”.

(In an article published by Palmetto State Watch Foundation, one writer discusses how closed primaries wouldn’t solve the main argument of democrat crossover and why the concept is unconstitutional, read HERE.)

Looking at the Log: Fixing Internal Issues of the Grassroots

It is time the grassroots in South Carolina starts working together strategically and effectively to accomplish common goals. Currently, all of the grassroots on either the legislative side or the GOP side are reacting to the actions of those in power (and if you are involved in both then you probably are just going mental.)

The Achilles Heel of the grassroots are twofold: 1) too much ego, or 2) not enough strategy. Many times, it’s both.

The Ego Problem

Similar to the SCGOP/legislature, the grassroots have self-proclaimed “leaders” that are almost always branded as “America First” and are anything but that. Many of these individuals are so focused on gaining personal recognition that they lose sight of why they got involved in the first place: to restore limited government. This leads to these individuals getting overly emotional when someone has a small disagreement with them. What often should be a simple disagreement, turns into a full blown war that creates factions in their circles. All of their friends/colleagues are suddenly stuck in a terrible divorce, where their “leaders” are now mortal enemies trying to get full custody of the house (the group) and kids (the people involved in the group).

Another fundamental symptom of this “ego” problem is thinking you are better than everyone else. This is a problem on every “side” of the aisle. If you can’t level with the average South Carolina citizen in a calm and genuine manner, you probably shouldn’t be in a “leadership” position. More often than not, many Republican “leaders” (on every side *hint hint*) could use a good slice of humble pie.

The Lack of Strategy Problem

The ego problem quickly leads into the lack of strategy issue. Yet, this one is more complex. Like I stated earlier, the grassroots movement reacts more than it acts. This is both a good and a bad issue. While it does help us stop bad legislation right before it passes, it doesn’t solve the root issue: where the bad legislation came from (ex. who the legislation was sponsored by.) The grassroots is so split with one corner working on taking over the GOP and the other holding the legislative branch at bay, rarely is anything effective accomplished. How do we solve this? Let’s take a look at why the GOP can function as a private club.

The Two-Party System: Taxpayer-Funded Private Clubs

Have you ever wondered why the GOP can just makeup rules out of no where and twist a technicality to make anyone look stupid? Because even though the two-party system is codified in SC code of law and receives public money to run Republican/Democrat primaries, they are both still considered private clubs.

This is very similar to the public-private partnerships that birth nonprofits to accomplish the goals of global corporations. For example, the SC Department of Public Health partnered with the SC Hospital Association that birthed the Alliance for a Healthier South Carolina through shared board members and taxpayer dollars, yet the nonprofit does not have to follow by the same rules as a government agency (who feeds them money.)

To break this loophole, there are only two options (that I observe): 1) codify the two parties and make them official government entities, or 2) cut them off from public funding entirely.

Create a Level Playing Field

Personally, the second option makes the most sense to me. If all other parties function completely independent of the government, why are the democrats and republicans any better?

The American political pre-party system created by our republic’s founders allowed citizens to “caucus” and choose the candidate that best represented the morals and principles of their party. That’s exactly how the Founding Fathers and fellow Americans picked the delegates from each state to the Constitutional Convention. If it was good enough for the founders, why isn’t it good enough for us?

Did the Founding Fathers intend to have publicly funded primaries for parties?Absolutely not. They were the ones who instituted the convention method. According to George Washington in his farewell address of 1796, he spoke against the two parties that had formed during his last presidency—the Federalists Party and the Democrat-Republican Party. He stated that a two-party system would 1) divide the country, 2) subvert the will of the people/undermine democracy, 3) weaken government functioning by enabling corruption, and 4) make the country vulnerable to foreign interference.

If the Republican and Democrat Party went back to the convention method, they would have to either mold to the wishes of the majority of its members or risk dying out because their members would go to a party that better reflected their views.

How To Give the Power Back to the Grassroots

In a legislative-controlled state, the answer is clear: the power is in the state legislators. It is time to train up our best and brightest to run for office. This means nurturing leaders that cannot be broken and swayed by the establishment. This also means finding potential leaders that have strong critical thinking skills and are not easily overtaken by their emotions while still remaining empathetic. A leader that will listen to their constituents/grassroots, not to the direction of big business.

Representative Rob Harris is a great example of one that beat a well-established incumbent with little money but a loyal grassroots team. He has survived two elections so far and has yet to bend in Columbia.

If we dedicated our time to finding genuinely brave men and women among us and putting them into office, we could kill two birds with one stone. Not only could we stop bad legislation/repeal current law, we could also solve the party problem by passing or repealing law related to the two-party system and remove funding.

Now, I want to know your thoughts. Not the thoughts your party or preferred leader has told you, but using your critical thinking skills and sitting with yourself. No one is attacking you. Take a birds eye view of the playing field and the ideas we have discussed so far. Let me know in the comments.