STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 21.13 | APRIL 1, 2022
BIG STORY: Diving into S.C. House races shows mixed competition
NEWS BRIEFS: Monday House hearing set for medical marijuana bill
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: A rathole
COMMENTARY, Brack: The case against continuing to insult voters
SPOTLIGHT: S.C. Hospital Association
FEEDBACK: Send us your thoughts
MYSTERY PHOTO: Blue shutters
S.C. House races show mixed competition
A news analysis by Andy Brack | More than one of every three elections for the S.C. House of Representatives is already decided.
That’s because 45 candidates, most of whom are incumbents, will face no challenger in the June primaries or November general election. Example: The longtime Republican seat currently held by House Speaker Jay Lucas, who is not running for reelection, has only one candidate – Republican Cody T. Mitchell of Hartsville. He also is Lucas’s law partner.
The party that will win is already decided in another 16 races across the state because the Democrats or Republicans running in the June 14 primary face no general election challenger.
All totaled, that means 71 seats of the 124 in the House (57 percent) are already fixed. Republicans only have to win nine of the remaining 53 races to keep their majority, which is expected.
Primaries feature 51 competitive races
Throughout the state, there are 51 House races featuring more than one candidate from a political party. Thirty-eight House seats have Republican primaries, while 13 seats have Democratic primaries.
Some of the contested primaries are pretty crowded. In Greenville County, for example, five Democrats are vying for an open seat held currently by Democratic Rep. Leola Robinson. The winner will face three candidates in November from the Independence, Libertarian and Republican parties. Nearby in District 27, four Republicans are running for the open seat held by GOP Rep. Garry Smith. In Cherokee and Spartanburg counties, five Republicans seek a seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Steve Moss.
A handful of incumbents have intraparty challengers. In Richland County, Rep. Wendy Brawley faces two Democratic challengers. The winner has to face two candidates, one from the Green Party and the other a Republican. In Dillon County, longtime state Rep. Jackie Hayes faces a Democratic challenger. The winner will face the winner of a GOP primary and an Independence candidate. In Charleston County, five candidates filed for House Seat 112 and incumbent GOP Rep. Joe Bustos faces two Republican challengers. The winner will face the victor of a Democratic primary.
A newcomer in Lexington County’s House District 85 will be the winner of a November election and while the race is classified as competitive, it’s probably not in reality as four Republicans are vying for an open seat long held by a Republican. The November challenger is Libertarian. No members of that party serve in the Statehouse.
One race to watch is a three-way Democratic primary in the Pee Dee that pits incumbents Roger Kirby and Cezar McKnight against each other. A third candidate is William Terry Wallace.
- To view the status of any House race in June and November, click here to see an election chart.
- To learn the latest on statewide races, click here (scroll down in story).
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Monday House hearing set for medical marijuana
Staff reports | The S.C. House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee on Monday in Columbia will hold a public hearing on a bill to allow the use of medical marijuana in South Carolina.
On Thursday, a subcommittee made few changes to the Senate-passed bill, which was approved 28-15 in February after seven days of debate and more than 60 changes, according to the Associated Press.
Before sending the measure to the full committee, a 3M House subcommittee cleaned up language, such as typos, and restored podiatrists to the list of doctors who could prescribe medical marijuana pending extra training.
“I think the potential [for advancing to the House floor] is very strong,” Rep. Leon Howard, D – Richland, said in a story by WCSC-TV. “The support on the 3M Committee seems to be strong; the support in the House seems to be strong.”
In other recent news:
S.C. Senate greenlights expanded private school vouchers. The S.C. Senate on Wednesday gave key approval by a 25-15 vote to a bill allowing some poorer or disabled students to use taxpayer money to attend private school or a public school outside their district. The measure now heads to the House, which has been more agreeable to private school vouchers in the past.
At least 3 S.C. superintendent candidates don’t have required master’s degree. Several candidates for state superintendent don’t meet a little-known requirement signed into law four years ago, potentially cutting the 12-candidate field down to less than 10 before ballots are even released.
S.C. House legislators walk back restrictive parts of proposed teaching bill. House legislators have scaled back efforts to restrict what students are taught about U.S. history, civics and current events, going against a proposed bill that would ban lessons that may cause students to feel uncomfortable.
S.C. lawmakers advance bill pushing unproven “abortion reversal.” S.C. lawmakers fast-tracked a bill after similar legislation stalled in the Senate. The measure would apply to doctors providing patients with chemical abortions.
Transgender athlete ban making quick trip to S.C. House floor. A proposal to ban transgender students from playing girls’ and women’s sports in public South Carolina high schools and colleges is moving through the state House after stalling twice last year.
GOP’s Reichenback wins special Florence race. Political newcomer Mike Reichenbach was the overwhelming winner of a special election to fill the seat in Florence and Darlington counties left open when state Sen. Hugh Leatherman died last year. He defeated Democratic candidate Suzanne La Rochelle during Tuesday’s special election. He will be the only Black Republican state senator when he joins the General Assembly next week.
Student killed at Greenville’s Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville. A 12-year-old student shot Thursday at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville County has died. A 12-year-old boy has been charged with his murder, according to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office. The shooting made national news. More: Greenville News.
Beasley speaks on world hunger amid conflict in Ukraine. Former S.C. Gov. David Beasley is calling on corporations and billionaires to contribute to the global food crisis as the United Nations’ World Food Program is billions short of the funding it needs to address the problem amid the war in Ukraine.
Haley publishes book celebrating achievements of women. Former S.C. governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley is publishing her third book. This one focuses on inspirational female leaders.
- Want more headlines every business day that are like this? Visit our friends at SC Clips.
A rathole
Cartoonist Robert Ariail often interprets things a little differently, but always has an interesting take on what’s going on in South Carolina. Love the cartoon? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
The case against continuing to insult voters
By Andy Brack | If you want to know why gerrymandering harms democracy, just look at the results of filing for S.C. House seats, which closed Wednesday.
Of the 124 seats that will be voted on across the state, it’s already crystal clear which political party will win in more than half of the seats. Some 71 seats will be either Republican or Democratic. In fact, a total of 45 of those seats feature 34 Republicans and 11 Democrats with absolutely no opposition at all.
This is no way to run a democracy. More competition, particularly in the November general election, means choices for voters. In 45 districts, there’s no choice.
In 16 districts, there’s no real party choice. A total of 51 districts have competitive primary elections with 38 GOP primaries and 13 Democratic primaries scheduled for June. But at least 16 of those races have no challenger from another party, meaning that one party will because others didn’t field a candidate.
So if anyone ever tells you the fix is in – meaning that the Republican Party as well as incumbents in general – have a massive advantage in House elections, you’re hearing the truth. Gerrymandering – the practice of letting the foxes draw their own election lines – creates unfair districts and diminishes democracy.
Gerrymandering in the once-every-10-years redistricting process also bolsters partisanship.
Still, we’re encouraged that the November elections feature 53 “competitive” races. But we put the adjective in quotes because the reality is that many of those races have fairly token opposition candidates, a few from third parties. If the November elections go like past House races, there probably will be only a dozen out of 124 races that are truly competitive, meaning elections in which it’s fairly hard to predict a winner.
Again, this is no way to run a democracy.
Members of the legislature need to be shamed into creating an independent redistricting commission that will draw fairer district lines and keep communities together instead of playing politics. To do less is to continue to insult voters who want real choices.
Also on our radar screen in recent days:
Support Ukraine. South Carolinians need to keep a focus on supporting Ukraine as the Russian military continues its violent invasion. Don’t get distracted by silliness at a movie awards ceremony or partisan politics involving a Supreme Court nominee. Do what you can to bolster Ukraine and support freedom because if the Russians get a significant toehold in Ukraine, you can bet the Bear will threaten other democracies.
Graham’s flip-flop. We wish United States senators would stop using confirmation hearings as platforms to make insulting, partisan rants. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., embarrassed the whole state in recent days with a tirade against U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson – whom he voted to confirm a few months back. Confirmation hearings of nominees from either party are supposed to be about qualifications, not politics. Both parties need to reboot how they do confirmations.
Suspend the gas tax. South Carolina’s gas tax is 26 cents per gallon. With pain at the pump a reality for most South Carolinians – and with the state still flush with surplus cash from two years of pandemic payments and other monies – the state should suspend the tax temporarily to help voters’ pocketbooks.
That’s what Democratic gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham of Charleston again suggested last month. GOP incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement that he vetoed a gas tax increase in past years, but then he slammed Cunningham for being a Democrat. Later he wouldn’t commit to suspending gas taxes, but said he’d consider any proposal from the legislature. Come on governor, get beyond partisanship, show some leadership and encourage your buddies to provide voters with some relief. (It would be a good political move, too.)
Andy Brack is publisher of the Charleston City Paper and editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
S.C. Hospital Association
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week’s spotlighted underwriter is the South Carolina Hospital Association, the Palmetto State’s foremost advocate on healthcare issues affecting South Carolinians. The mission of SCHA is to support its members in addressing the healthcare needs of South Carolina through advocacy, education, networking and regulatory assistance.
Founded in 1921, the South Carolina Hospital Association is the leadership organization and principal advocate for the state’s hospitals and health care systems. Based in Columbia, SCHA works with its members to improve access, quality and cost-effectiveness of health care for all South Carolinians. The state’s hospitals and health care systems employ more than 70,000 persons statewide. SCHA’s credo: We are stronger together than apart.
- To learn more about SCHA and its mission, go to: http://www.scha.org
Views on looming shortage, graduation rates
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following letter was sent in by a North Charleston teacher who asked to remain anonymous.
To the editor:
I see the shortage coming, but I see districts as also trying to fix it with “better” online platforms, which to me are total bullshit.
But I write to tell you of the undermining, disrespectful and unethical issue that simmers in high school in particular: the graduation rate. Schools are evaluated based, at least in part, on how many students graduate “on time,” also known as four years.
So if a student won’t come to school (we no longer actually enforce any, at all, nonattendance sanctions – I know of students who’ve missed 40 of 45 days with no sanction) and if that student won’t do any work when it’s assigned, then this is what actually is happening: behind a teacher’s back there are principals in the schools whose sole job is to bump up the grad rate or at least keep it from falling. What they do is to reassign students who don’t come to school and don’t do any work to online platforms.
The kid is removed from your roster and then has no face-to-face instruction. Instead, they move through the online platform at their own pace, Googling their way through the answers and achieving the district’s objective of graduating “on time.” I’ve had three students removed from my rosters in just the past two weeks (as we’re approaching the end of the school year).
The graduation rate is fake. It’s falsely inflated. It’s utter bullshit and SC taxpayers are footing the bill for a principal and a secretary and counselor at a minimum in most schools whose only job is to monitor the grades of seniors who might fail and then to essentially guarantee their passing by bypassing quality face-to-face instruction, covering up all the refusal to complete work alongside their peers as well as their nonattendance.
I’d bet that you can FOIA the attendance by grade level of schools – 12th graders in particular – to highlight what’s going on. It seems like you could do the same thing with how many students are not receiving the teacher’s face-to-face instruction that we’re already as taxpayers footing the bill for but are instead [online] on Apex. (They’re coded differently so this can be seen and culled into an expose of sorts.) But don’t let the districts’ talking heads spin it without letting a bunch of high school teachers tell you how they’re actually hiding what they’re doing. Because there are myriad ways this is done.
My name should remain anonymous. But I’m a 28-year teaching veteran who’s retiring at the end of this school year.
- Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Blue shutters
There’s a pretty obvious clue in this photo about which city this photo of blue shutters is from. See if you can give us that city’s name AND more information about the photo that pins down its location a little better. This week’s “winners” will be people who give us more than one piece of information. Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “Big butterfly,” is a butterfly statue made of blue granite at tNorth Charleston’s Riverfront Park.
Congratulations to these sleuths for identifying it: Frank Bouknight of Summerville; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; Jacie Godfrey of Florence; Elizabeth Jones and Jay Altman, both of Columbia; Pat Keadle of Wagener; and Penny Forrester of Tallahassee, Fla.
- Send us a mystery. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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