News analysis by Bill Davis | Gov. Nikki Haley may have won the battle getting former state Sen. Wes Hayes (R-Rock Hill) out of the Senate, but now a lame duck, she may have lost the war with that chamber.
But she may have better defined who will run for governor in two years.
In Tuesday’s primary in Rock HIll, 25-year Senate veteran Hayes lost by a scant 4 percent to 32-year-old Wes Climer, a former York County GOP chairman.
Earlier this spring, Haley went on the offensive against the “oldest boys network” in the Senate, endorsing Climer. She also backed unsuccessful Republican primary opponents of Senate President Pro Tempore Hugh Leatherman of Florence and Luke Rankin of Conway.
Both Leatherman and Rankin, who chairs the Ethics Committee, defeated their Haley-backed opponents by more than 10 percentage points. Neither Leatherman, Rankin nor Climer will face opponents in the November general election, an imbalance that continues to plague most legislative races.
A souring relationship
Hayes, who first served in the House when Climer was 2 years old, wasn’t so lucky. The biggest chunk of Climer’s narrow win came thanks to an impressive showing in River Hills, an exclusive gate community on Lake Wylie, while Hayes, well-liked in the Senate, did best in precincts close to his office and home in Rock Hill.
In openly backing the upstarts against the established incumbents, several senators, each of whom asked that their names be withheld, said Haley had further soured her relationship with that chamber.
“I don’t think it will help,” said Hayes, noted for his gentlemanly manner and gift for understatement.
While Hayes will leave the Senate next year, Haley’s next two years wil be as a lame duck and may mean she will have to endure an even harder time getting any of her agenda items through the legislature.
By contrast, her predecessor and mentor, former Gov. Mark Sanford’s last two years were his most successful following the revelation of his affair with a South American woman. Humbled, Sanford stopped using the General Assembly as a “whipping boy,” and learned to work along with legislators.
On Thursday, Hayes minimized the effect of Haley’s meddling, saying his race came down to a combination of issues, his district’s changing demographics, outside money, and perhaps, voter fatigue of his presence for over three decades in the legislature.
Climer ran on a platform that change was needed because the same issues, namely ethics reform, had been on the docket for years without solutions.
A bitter irony on ethics
Hayes has chaired an ethics subcommittee for years and shepherded failed past ethics reform attempts.
Ironically, the legislature passed and Haley this week signed off on reforms that would require candidates to disclose sources of personal income, and would call for an independent office to investigate ethical allegations against sitting members of the General Assembly as Hayes was getting ready to leave the Senate for the last time.
Haley released an official statement on the measure, that read in part: “Income disclosure and independent investigations will help restore the people’s trust in state government by making it more accountable to those it serves.”
Instead of spitting sour grapes, Hayes agreed with the governor. “I think what she is saying is correct; I have been pushing for those things long before she thought about pushing for them, and I will still push for them.”
Ethics reform, said Hayes, shouldn’t “be about giving someone a victory or a defeat – it’s about what’s the right thing to do.”
After Hayes earlier this week invited the Senate to welcome Climer with open arms, former GOP political operative Trey Walker tweeted that he’d “never seen someone so gracious.”
Winthrop polling guru Scott Huffmon concurred: “Wes Hayes is the true definition of a gentleman.”
Huffmon said outside money from political action committees, such as Haley’s A Great Day SC, Americans for Prosperity of Koch brothers’ fame and the S.C. Club for Growth, delivered the win for Climer.
With infusions of cash from PACs like those, Huffmon, who lives in that same Rock Hill district, said Climer was able to overwhelm Hayes’ messaging.
Huffmon found it notable that Haley’s endorsement seemed to be inconsequential, considering that she benefited mightily from Sarah Palin’s endorsement, which thrust her from the back of the GOP pack to primary and General Election wins.
Yet Haley’s endorsements may have widened a schism on the first floor of the Statehouse, where she and Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster (R) have their offices. In each of the three Senate races, McMaster, the former head of the state GOP, backed the incumbents.
A defining primary?
In doing so, McMaster has done two things. First, he signaled to the legislature that if he were to become the next governor, there would be a decidedly less frosty relationship between his office and their chambers.
And second, by aligning himself with the “establishment” Republican Party pols, he forced open political ground to his right. As to who will step into that void to head the GOP ticket in 2018 is anybody’s guess. But here’s a short list:
- U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-Rock Hill), a Club for Growther from way back, could return from Washington to put on a well-funded run.
- State Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort), a small-government true believer is rumored to already have promises from deep pockets for big contributions (in the seven-figure range, according to one state senator speaking quietly).
- Attorney General Alan Wilson, who has endeared himself to the right thanks to multiple lawsuits challenging the federal government.
- State Treasurer Curtis Loftis, one of the more aggressive and zestier statewide officials, always ready to tangle with the status quo.
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