By Bill Davis, senior editor | Looks like the controversy over taking down the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds earlier this year isn’t over.
Several Republicans in the House and Senate — and from both sides of the issue — say it could shape primary races across the state, but primarily in the conservative rural Midlands and Upstate.
With many primaries serving as de facto elections in many districts, the lingering impact of the flag could shape the future of the General Assembly, too.
Over the summer, Gov. Nikki Haley took a bold stance on the flag, which had been flying for years in a prominent place in front of the Statehouse, after a racially-inspired shooting in a Charleston church took the lives of nine parishioners.
Included among those murdered was state Sen. Clementa Pinckney (D-Jasper), who was leading a Bible study when the tragedy occurred. In June, Haley called for the flag’s removal, saying it needed to come down in honor of her slain colleague.
Some criticized the governor for allowing the debate to begin after Pinckney’s casket rolled past the flag on a horse-drawn caisson, a tacit victory to those who hold the state blameless for slavery. Others complained the flag stood for the state’s history and served as an honorable reminder of those who fought to protect the state.
Haley won the day. But will her victory cost incumbent Republicans their seats in the upcoming year, especially in an election year during which lawmakers will consider a controversial proposal to raise the state gas tax to cover the costs of huge infrastructure and roads projects exacerbated by this fall’s historic flooding?
Long may it wave
Freshman state Rep. Christopher Corley (R-Graniteville) viewed sending an annual Christmas card to fellow Republicans as an opportunity to stir up the cauldron. The front of the card featured a picture of the flag still flying in front of the Statehouse.
On the back was a holiday message that included the line: “May you have a blessed Christmas, and may you take this joyous time as an opportunity to ask for forgiveness of all your sins such as betrayal.”
Corley this week said he purposefully sent the card to coincide with his pre-filing a bill for the coming legislative session that called for a non-binding referendum on where the flag should be displayed.
Corley said it didn’t matter if his bill ever made it to the floor, or if it died in committee, “because I’ve already made it an election issue” for everyone running for a seat in the legislature.”
In an interview in which Corley said the true cause of the Civil War was economic domination by the North and not slavery, he said that while the flag might not be the “centerpiece” of some campaigns, it will play bigger in the rural Midlands and Upstate races, where conservatives are angry their elected officials “caved.”
Corley claimed many seated GOP members in the House and Senate who voted to take down the flag would see increased opposition as a result.
“Lots of ‘splaining”
Count Florence resident Will Breazeale as one of those rallying around the flag as the centerpiece of his campaign the House District 63 seat currently held by fellow Republican Jay Jordan, who was elected in April.
Returning the flag to the grounds is literally the first plank in his campaign platform, which calls to defend “our Southern Heritage from further attack.”
Like Corley, he’s heard of a handful of names planning to run on a flag-friendly platform against incumbent Republicans, including against Senate leaders like Judiciary Chair Larry Martin of Pickens and President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman of Florence, who also chairs the finance committee.
State Sen. Lee Bright (R-Roebuck) says the coming session’s vote on the gas tax, combined with a vote to take down the flag, could spell real problems for his fellow Republicans in the House and Senate.
“Opposition for you will be pretty strong in a primary if you’ve got those two votes on your resume,” said Bright, who opposed removing the flag. “You will have lots of ‘splaining to do.”
Attacked from all sides
Martin voted to take down the flag. This week, with the state facing decades of needed infrastructure funding to shore up roads and bridges, Martin said he’d vote for “some sort of a gas tax” as long as it helped everyone across the state, and not just for big projects favoring one region.
Martin said that “rarely” do single votes cost legislators their jobs, but that combined with other issues, like slack constituent services, it could help topple a leader.
Martin said during the recently completed “holiday parade” season, some constituents yelled out some “not very nice things at me about the flag.” But Martin added, “You can never get every vote.”
Influential political scientist Scott Huffmon said while more candidates may come out of the woodwork angry over the flag issue, it remains to be seen whether they will “truly speak for the majority of conservatives of a district.”
Huffmon said the political calculation surrounding the gas tax might be more dangerous for those representing conservative districts that the flag issue.
“People are not opposed to raising tax money for roads projects in the abstract, but when they get to counting how many cents per gallon, then all of a sudden they’re against it,” said Huffmon. “All [that] a savvy Republican candidate challenging an incumbent has to say is ‘he voted to raise your taxes,’ and you’ve got a built-in primary message.”
Huffmon said that unless “something was destroyed by the flooding or someone they know died, it’s amazing how fast things fade in the public’s memory.”
Except for the Confederate Flag.
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