Presidential politics in the Palmetto State

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 13th of July, 2023.

You’re listening to WORLD Radio and we’re glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It: eyes on South Carolina in the presidential campaigns.

In the past, Iowa and New Hampshire received outsized attention. That’s because they were the first states to vote in primaries or caucuses.

But this time around, South Carolina is a strategic player in the nomination process. It’ll be the first southern state in the Republican primaries next year. And two of the candidates are from South Carolina: Senator Tim Scott and former governor Nikki Haley.

REICHARD: So what are Republican candidates doing this summer to win over the voters of South Carolina?

Joining us to talk about it is WORLD’s Washington Bureau reporter, Carolina Lumetta. Good morning, Carolina.

LUMETTA: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: From what I understand South Carolina is a reliably Republican state. So why does it merit so much attention in this primary?

LUMETTA: Right, it is almost as red as you could possibly go in terms of conservative Republican politics. South Carolina's had roughly 21 years of Republican trifectas, which means that the state legislature and the governor's mansion have all been majority Republican. And so Democrats in the area have told me Yeah, it honestly has not been a great Millennium for us so far in the state. But that doesn't mean that you can necessarily take it for granted, especially in this primary, with multiple people having a stake hold in that state, it's going to make it that much more important in February when they have their primary. Another interesting thing about South Carolina in terms of just the election procedures for the upcoming year is that they have open primaries, and no party registration, which means we don't actually know how many registered Republicans and Democrats live in the state because they're not required to do so. So anyone can vote in one primary. Once you do that, you're done. And it'll be really interesting to see what the divisions are between US Senator Tim Scott, who is hoping for a home field advantage, but who's also battling former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who's also hoping for a home field advantage, both of whom are also battling former President Donald Trump, who is hoping to win the state for a third time in next year.

REICHARD: Carolina, I'm wondering how former President Trump is going to matter in the South Carolina primary.

LUMETTA: Yeah, so he's been actually showing a lot more attention to the state than some other candidates have. He actually announced his reelection campaign for this cycle from South Carolina State House. And it was to a fairly small crowd, kind of unusual in terms of what we saw in 2016 and 2020. But it was interesting that he chose this state to launch his next campaign. And a couple of weeks ago, he held only his second rally of this campaign in a small town called Pickens, South Carolina. Their average population is about 3000, but local authorities were saying they are estimating about 50,000 came to this rally. And it really shows that even though he's continuing to focus on small towns and bringing attention to Middle America, he's really bringing in a lot more people than the other candidates are doing.

REICHARD: And given all of that, then how have the Republican candidates been campaigning in the state?

LUMETTA: Right, it it does really vary. So Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has made some brief stops in the state, but honestly not a huge splash from what I've seen, and neither has the rest of the field, which admittedly is very large at this point. Most of them are laser focused on Iowa and New Hampshire. What's interesting is that, like I said, we have two candidates who are hoping to get this what's colloquially known as the favorite son advantage, but with Haley, we should probably call it the favorite son and daughter advantage. Typically, a candidate will not campaign too heavily in their home state, especially if it's a Republican candidate from a majority Republican state, because it's assumed that the voters are going to support them, but both of them are kind of warring with each other to get their constituents to support them. So you get the sense that a lot of South Carolina voters and lawmakers are holding back not really sure who to go for at this point.

REICHARD: So what are the stakes for the entire field in February?

LUMETTA: They are pretty high. So I spoke to Drew McKissick, who is the party chair of the South Carolina Republican Party, and he spearheaded this decision to move their primary date to February 24, which he explained was actually a very strategic decision because it leaves about a month for candidates who have nothing to do pretty much except campaign in South Carolina. He said that that will really give candidates a big bounce going into Super Tuesday, which will be just 10 days later. And from his perspective, it brings a lot of attention to South Carolina. It brings kind of this very robust debate for voters, but also it brings a lot of campaign funding. I was speaking to a Democratic strategist, Tyler Jones, who has been working in South Carolina politics for 20 years. And he said that the Republican primary is very interesting in South Carolina because it's not guaranteed. If Trump wins Iowa and New Hampshire but loses South Carolina to anybody else, that's a really significant challenge to his reelection effort, but if he loses both Iowa and New Hampshire, but wins South Carolina, then that's still a big boost for him. So a lot really hinges on this state. And voters are very proud of a reputation of really being the states to weed out the unserious candidates and to be the ones who they have a pretty good track record of picking the eventual Republican nominee.

REICHARD: For more coverage of the 2024 campaigns and the candidates, sign up for Carolina's free weekly newsletter. It's called The Stew. Carolina, thanks so much.

LUMETTA: Thanks for having me, Mary.

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