South Carolina

If Katie Arrington wins her race, it will be just the latest triumph in a life of struggles.

Driving on Interstate 85 between Atlanta and Charlotte through the northern third of South Carolina, aka the “Upstate,” you’ll definitely see that giant peach-shaped water tower in Gaffney that looks like, er, something else. But after you’re done laughing (or cringing) at this symbol of the…

Hosted by Charlie Sykes.

"I don’t agree with him on that one," my stepmother said. “It was wrong, and I don’t think he should have done it.” Usually she took my father’s side in these discussions. Not this time.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD had the chance to talk to South Carolina Republican Mark Sanford about President Donald Trump’s proposed steel and aluminum tariffs, which would tax imports at 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Sanford, who has represented the state’s 1st District since 2013, ardently…

We’re likely to see the Memo—that’s the House Intelligence committee’s memo, written by GOP chairman Devin Nunes, alleging wrongdoing on the part of the FBI’s initial investigation into Russian meddling by Trump campaign associates—sometime on Friday. Whatever Nunes’s summary of the FBI’s FISA…

House Oversight Committee chairman Trey Gowdy announced Wednesday that he will not be seeking re-election and will instead be returning to work in the justice system.

Rock Hill, S.C.

Rock Hill, S.C.

President-elect Donald Trump has offered Nikki Haley the role of United State ambassador to the United Nations. The two-term Republican governor of South Carolina has reportedly accepted:

Republican senator Tim Scott has won reelection in South Carolina, according to the projection of the Associated Press. Scott, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2013 following the retirement of fellow Republican Jim DeMint, won the 2014 election to fill the remainder of DeMint's term. His…

You might have mixed feelings if you heard the news from the Charleston Post and Courier the other day. Either a hero has exposed his feet o' clay, or a wronged man is getting his comeuppance.

South Carolina is not feeling the Bern. Currently, there's a minuscule crowd for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

It’s the most repeated meme on cable news the past 24 hours: The South Carolina primary has picked every nominee since 1980, with the exception of Newt Gingrich in 2012. Every candidate who, like Donald Trump, has won New Hampshire and South Carolina has gone on to become the GOP nominee.

Michael Steel, a Jeb Bush campaign spokesman, was asked at least four times whether Bush would drop out after the South Carolina primary:

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will endorse Marco Rubio for president. The Post and Courier reports:

The WEEKLY STANDARD Podcast with staff writer Michael Warren on Donald Trump's recent 9/11 comments, South Carolina, and more.

Had Marco Rubio performed a week ago in the New Hampshire debate as he did Saturday night in South Carolina, the Florida senator might have vanquished his non-Trump, non-Cruz rivals for good. Seven days after having the worst debate performances of his presidential campaign, and even less time…

Florida senator Marco Rubio has picked up the support of a South Carolina Republican activist who had previously supported Scott Walker.

Bill Clinton, the husband of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, will “reemerge,” as CNN puts it, next week on behalf of his wife’s presidential campaign. The former president will headline a fundraiser in Chicago on September 17, the first of what the campaign says will be several events where…

Bakari Sellers, a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and a key supporter in that early state, scolded Hillary Clinton for her comments about her email server. 

Joe Biden has been consulting with a prominent Democratic operative in South Carolina about a possible run for the White House, the New York Times reports:

Vice President Joe Biden is hearing from friends and political allies that he should get in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. The Wall Street Journal reports:

A new OpinionSavvy/InsiderAdvantage poll shows Donald Trump doing better in the South than he is nationally. In Georgia, The Donald’s 30 percent is nearly double his closest competitor, Jeb Bush (17 percent), Ben Carson’s at 10 percent, and the rest of the field is single digits—or zero, as in the…

Hillary Clinton recently sat down for a "Chair Chat" with the chairman of the South Carolina Democratic party, Jaime Harrison. During the interview, as in many of her speeches to people who live in the South, she put on a Southern accent that is absent from her speeches to Northerners.

The eyes of the nation tuned in to cable news this morning as South Carolina removed the Confederate Battle Flag from its Capitol grounds after 54 years. 

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with editor William Kristol on Donald Trump's candidacy, and the debate over the confederate flag.

Former Clinton advisor Paul Begala told CNN's Chris Cuomo Tuesday morning that Hillary Clinton "absolutely" has to answer for standing by her husband when he served as governor of Arkansas and defended that state's flag's relationship to the Confederate battle flag.

In remarks regarding the South Carolina shooting, President Obama talked up gun control and said that he recognizes "the politics in this town" may not allow "something" to get done. Watch here:

Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced that the Justice Department has opened a hate crime investigation to look into the shooting last night at a South Carolina church:

President Obama will give remarks on the shooting in South Carolina. Via the White House:

While campaigning against the Patriot Act in South Carolina last weekend, Rand Paul—a committed and supposedly knowledgeable civil libertarian—made a rather surprising claim. The Kentucky senator said that American law enforcement officials had "probable cause" to obtain a warrant for the arrest…

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is running for president of the United States. The New York Times reports:

Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was born in Illinois and represented New York in the U.S. Senate, has brought back her Southern accent for her speech today in South Carolina:

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Carly Fiorina will both be campaigning in Columbia, South Carolina, on Wednesday, and the Fiorina campaign is making sure reporters know its candidate will be answering questions. Fiorina will be available to speak to the press, says deputy campaign manager…

Inevitability is said to be one of Hillary Clinton's hinderances in securing the Democratic party's nomination for president, that she must earn the nomination rather than claim it as a right. But to listen to Mrs. Clinton's recent videotaped message to the South Carolina Democratic Party's…

Vice President Joe Biden will be headed to South Carolina, an important early primary state. He'll make the trip, which includes a stop in North Carolina, on Wednesday and Thursday.

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham has launched a new political action committee for "testing the waters" for a presidential run in 2016. The Republican, in his third term, has started Security Through Strength, a PAC that bluntly describes itself as a group to "fund the infrastructure and…

South Carolina has elected the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction, with Republican Tim Scott winning his race to complete a term to the Senate after having been appointed to the seat in 2013. Scott is the first African American popularly elected to the Senate in the old…

Democrat Vincent Sheheen of South Carolina referred to his Republican opponent, sitting governor Nikki Haley, as a "whore" in an apparent slip of the tongue during a recent campaign rally.

The campaign of Lindsey Graham, the two-term Republican senator from South Carolina facing several primary challengers this year, is making significant radio and TV ad buys this week in markets around the Palmetto State. The purchase price of the ads is reportedly $220,000.

Duncan, S.C.

Last night, the organization formerly known as President Obama's reelection campaign, Organizing for Action, held an Obamacare event in Greenville, South Carolina. The event was called "Obamacare and You!"

In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, Barton Swaim, a WEEKLY STANDARD contributor and former speechwriter for Mark Sanford, reviews a new ebook about the disgraced-governor-turned-congressman from South Carolina:

“South Carolina has passed a bill that criminalizes the implementation of Obama’s health care law reform law,” said HuffPost Live host Jacob Soboroff last week. The claim, from the Huffington Post and others, is that South Carolina is attempting to “nullify” Obamacare. But what the…

Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina, has won his old House seat back in a special election to succeed Tim Scott, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate earlier this year. The Associated Press reports:

Elizabeth Colbert-Busch, the Democratic nominee for the South Carolina First Congressional District special election, is listed twice on today's ballot. Colbert-Busch is also the nominee of the Working Families party.

It's been a roller coaster of a special election in South Carolina's First Congressional District, and about 24 hours before the polls close, the race for the House seat once held by Senator Tim Scott looks to be a close one. As the Huffington Post noted, Republican Mark Sanford and Democrat…

Mark Sanford, former governor of South Carolina, has cleared the first hurdle in his comeback campaign. He will be in a runoff to determine the Republican candidate for a vacant House seat. He got some 37 percent of the primary vote. Which would have seemed an utterly improbable back in 2009, when…

The race to succeed Tim Scott in South Carolina's First Congressional District begins with a new television ad from GOP candidate Teddy Turner, the son of billionaire CNN founder (and proud liberal) Ted Turner. "He went there to work as a cameraman and left a conservative," the voiceover begins.…

Former South Carolina governor and congressman Mark Sanford announced his candidacy for the state's First Congressional District Wednesday. Sanford, who served as that district's House member from 1995 to 2001 and later as governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011, is vying for the Republican…

Mark Sanford, the former congressman and governor of South Carolina, will announce he is running for his old House seat Wednesday. Jim Geraghty at National Review confirms the news in an interview with Sanford:

Jenny Sanford, the ex-wife of former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, will not run for the Charleston-area open congressional seat in the upcoming special election. According to the Associated Press, Sanford, who divorced the governor after it was revealed he had been conducting an…

Mark Sanford, the former governor of South Carolina, will run for the House of Representatives, sources close to Sanford confirm. He will try to win election to the seat formerly held by Tim Scott. 

The New York Times has greeted the appointment of South Carolina congressman Tim Scott to succeed fellow Republican Jim DeMint in the Senate with an op-ed decrying the selection--and Scott himself--as "token."

The son of mogul Ted Turner, Teddy Turner, announced his intention this evening to run for the House seat being vacated by Tim Scott, who today was appointed to fill the remainder of Jim DeMint's Senate term. The House seat represents part of South Carolina. 

Tim Scott received a call from Governor Nikki Haley Sunday night. “Do you want to be a U.S. senator?” Haley asked.

Tim Scott will be the next U.S. Senator from South Carolina. The first-term Republican congressman from Charleston, who was just elected to a second term, was appointed to the seat being vacated by fellow Republican Jim DeMint. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley made the announcement in Columbia…

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will appoint Republican congressman Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate, the New York Times reports. Haley, the first-term Republican governor, is expected to make an announcement about her selection around noon in Columbia. CNN is also reporting that Scott has been…

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley tweeted lyrics to an Adele song today. Here's the tweet:

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will appoint a new senator to take the seat of GOP senator Jim DeMint, who was reelected in 2010 and will be resigning early next year to become president of the Heritage Foundation. Sources in South Carolina say Haley will pick Charleston-area…

With Republican Jim DeMint’s resignation from the Senate, Republicans now have a chance to take a bold and politically beneficial step by making Congressman Tim Scott the new senator from South Carolina.

Jim DeMint, South Carolina's junior Republican senator and a stalwart conservative, will resign his Senate seat next month to become the president of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative Washington-based think tank. The Wall Street Journal reports:

South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling today on Obamacare:

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, would decline an offer to be the vice presidential nominee, she tells ABC:

Saturday’s South Carolina primary featured a number of firsts:

Courtesy of one friend, an old pro, three perhaps overlooked points in the sea of analysis of South Carolina and beyond:

Columbia, S.C.

Mitt Romney needs a big idea. And it’s not the one he cited at the beginning of his speech after his humiliating loss to Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary Saturday. Executive experience matters, Romney said. He has it and Gingrich, like President Obama, doesn’t.

Here's video of Newt Gingrich's victory speech, delivered this evening in South Carolina: 

Newt Gingrich has not yet delivered his victory speech tonight in South Carolina, but he has delivered a strong message to his rivals via Twitter. "Thank you South Carolina! Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida," Gingrich tweeted. "Join our Moneybomb and donate now."

As the polls close in South Carolina tonight, NBC News is able to project that Newt Gingrich will be the winner of the Republican primary in the first Southern state to vote. 

Orangeburg, S.C.

In an interview with radio host Laura Ingraham this morning, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney acknowledged that Newt Gingrich is likely going to win a few states over the course of the primary process.

It's notoriously hard to judge the political consequences of candidate debates. The media and political elites tend to opine as either drama critics judging performance art or as professors judging intellectual arguments. Doing well on one or another of these criteria can matter for a candidate.…

North Charleston, S.C.

In a pinch, Newt Gingrich resorts to his specialty: attacking the media. He did it again Thursday night in the Republican presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina. And the audience responded enthusiastically to his angry denunciation of CNN moderator John King for making his former…

Beaufort, S.C.

This morning, the Republican leadership on the Hill announced that Indiana governor Mitch Daniels would deliver the GOP response Tuesday night to President Obama’s State of the Union Address. An hour ago, a dark lady mysteriously appeared at our offices and dropped off an envelope before vanishing…

A new online ad from Newt Gingrich reminds voters of what the three principals from the 2008 South Carolina primary--John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Fred Thompson--had to say about Mitt Romney at the time. Watch below:

An Insider Advantage poll taken in South Carolina on Wednesday — two days after the most recent Republican presidential debate — shows that Newt Gingrich has erased a double-digit deficit to take the lead over Mitt Romney.  Gingrich now has 32 percent support, up 11 percentage points from his tally…

Warrenville, S.C.

Last night, referring to the Republican presidential race, Sean Hannity asked Sarah Palin, “You haven’t given an endorsement.  Are you gettin’ any closer to giving an endorsement?” The former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate replied: 

Lexington, S.C.

Three days before the South Carolina Republican primary, the press corps is poised to declare the GOP race over. If Mitt Romney follows up his wins in Iowa and New Hampshire with a win in the South, the media will tell Republicans in the other 47 states that there’s no need for them to cast votes…

Florence, S.C.

The Hill reports on the latest ahead of this weekend's primary vote in South Carolina: 

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The most obvious thing to say about Monday night’s debate is that it was better than almost all the previous ones, in part because there were fewer participants. We’ll get one more five-person debate on Thursday, then Rick Perry will most likely withdraw after Saturday’s primary—so we'll have…

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

The latest InsiderAdvantage poll of likely registered voters in the South Carolina Republican primary:

The New York Times reports that national conservative Christian leaders are waiting until after the South Carolina primary on January 21 to coalesce around a "not-Romney" Republican candidate. Those leaders are meeting in Texas this weekend to discuss the race. Here's more from the Times:

Duncan, S.C.

A new poll of South Carolina primary voters, the latest from PPP, shows Mitt Romney with a lead over Newt Gingrich, 29 percent to 24 percent. Ron Paul just edges out Rick Santorum for third place there, with 15 percent and 14 percent support, respectively.

A new 60-second radio advertisement from the Mitt Romney campaign makes an appeal to South Carolina's socially conservative Republicans. Listen to the ad below:

Rasmussen polling shows Mitt Romney leading in South Carolina, while Newt Gingrich is in second place and closing. It’s also interesting, however, to note the Republican candidates’ respective levels of support among Tea Party and non-Tea Party voters in what will be the first Republican-leaning…

Mitt Romney has released a new television ad for South Carolina markets. The ad reminds viewers of some of the companies Romney helped start through his work at Bain Capital--Staples, Sports Authority--and then criticizes unnamed GOP opponents for taking the "Obama line" of putting "free markets on…

I’m flattered to be welcomed by Karl Rove, writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, to membership in the GOP establishment. I’m even more pleased by Rove’s statement that “No group of power brokers can pressure others into uniting behind one candidate. Millions of primary voters and caucus-goers…

An Insider Advantage poll from South Carolina, taken after the New Hampshire primary, shows Mitt Romney with a narrow lead over Newt Gingrich. Romney has 23 percent support to Gingrich’s 21 percent support. Rick Santorum is in third place, with 14 percent support, followed by Ron Paul (13 percent…

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina said yesterday that he thinks Mitt Romney will win the South Carolina primary on January 21.

Manchester, N.H.

Hooksett, N.H.

A new poll from PPP of South Carolina Republican primary voters shows Mitt Romney with a seven-point lead over Newt Gingrich. Romney has 30 percent support of likely primary voters, compared with 23 percent for Gingrich and 19 percent for Rick Santorum. PPP also found that Romney's most dangerous…

Former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer will endorse Rick Santorum on Sunday at an event in South Carolina. Bauer, a former Reagan administration official, says in a statement that "Senator Santorum best personifies the Reagan-inspired conservatism that unites the GOP."

CNN reports on its latest South Carolina poll:

Rasmussen polling discovers a huge surge of support for Rick Santorum in South Carolina, which holds its primary directly after New Hampshire's.

Last night, after finishing 5th in the Iowa caucus with ten percent of the vote, Texas governor Rick Perry said he was going back home to reassess whether he would stay in the presidential race. "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a…

Nikki Haley, South Carolina's Republican governor, has endorsed Mitt Romney, according to a campaign release.

The latest poll out of South Carolina, conducted by Winthrop University: 

Bluffton, S.C.

A new national CBS News poll shows a close three-man race for the Republican nomination for president among Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich. Cain received 18 percent support, while Romney and Gingrich are both tied at 15 percent. That shows a decrease in support for Cain and Romney, who…

A new poll from Rasmussen shows Herman Cain with a 10-point lead over Mitt Romney among 770 likely South Carolina Republican primary voters. Thirty-three percent of respondents prefer Cain, as opposed to 23 percent for Romney. Newt Gingrich polled third at 15 percent.

The latest polls from CNN/Time show that Mitt Romney is leading or tied for the lead in all four of the first states to vote in the Republican primary next year.

A new pair of polls from NBC News and Marist College shows Herman Cain with a slight lead over Mitt Romney in South Carolina and Florida, two key early primary states. MSNBC reports:

In his foreign policy address at the Citadel this morning, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney provided a fuzzy outline of his position on the war in Afghanistan.

Mark McKinnon: "Chris Christie's Best Reason to Run"

Jon Ward at the Huffington Post talks to advisers close to Mitt Romney about the campaign's thinking of its chief rival, Rick Perry. Beyond subtle criticisms, like referring to Perry as a "career politician," the Romney campaign apparently thinks the Texas governor's worst enemy could be himself:

A new web ad released today by the Romney campaign highlights Mitt Romney's support for right to work laws. In the video, a paper company owner in New Hampshire explains how a union forcing his employees to join would hurt his business. Watch the video below:

Pethokoukis: "Why Obama’s tax pledge is bogus"

Tim Scott is the most heralded Republican House candidate this year, and for good reason.  He’s likeable, experienced in politics at the local and state level, a self-described “bleeding heart conservative” of the Jack Kemp school, and the champion of an economic program he describes as “under the…