Who pays when Trump, other presidential candidates rack up campaign costs in Rock Hill?

Presidential candidates required tens of thousands of dollars to be spent for security and other costs when they visited Rock Hill before the February Republican primary, public records obtained by The Herald show.

Taxpayers won’t foot the bill for the visits because the campaigns reimbursed Winthrop University and the city of Rock Hill. But the records show the scope of what’s requested, or required, when presidential candidates come to town and how plans varied depending on who visited.

For example, when former President Donald Trump visited Winthrop Coliseum on Feb. 23 and spoke to more than 5,000 people, his campaign paid $49,140 to Winthrop for police, emergency services and private security, records obtained by The Herald show.

Security for such large-scale events involving public figures required off-duty officers to keep the public and candidates safe, Winthrop University Police Chief Charles Yearta said. Winthrop police met with the U.S. Secret Service assigned to Trump before the event, then Winthrop police determined how many officers would be needed, Yearta said.

The Trump event used 42 off-duty Rock Hill Police Department officers at a cost of $15,135, records show. The city billed Winthrop, and the Trump campaign paid Winthrop, which paid the city back, according to invoices and records.

The information from public records was obtained by The Herald from Winthrop and Rock Hill under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act. The York County Sheriff’s Office was also involved in security for the Trump event, but but citing security measures used by the office, did not provide specific numbers of off-duty staff who worked.

Trump’s visit to Winthrop

South Carolina’s primary was the first in the South, and that position brought attention early and often from Republican candidates hoping to win the state’s electoral votes. By the time Election Day rolled around, just Trump and former Gov. Nikki Haley remained.

Trump put on the best-attended event among all candidates on Feb. 23 at Winthrop. It also generated the highest reimbursement requests.

For more than a decade, Winthrop University in Rock Hill has offered candidates of all parties facilities so the public can see and hear candidates in person, the school said in a statement to The Herald. Events at Winthrop, which is a public college, do not constitute endorsement of any party, political view, or candidate, the university said in a statement.

The fee to rent the Winthrop Coliseum was $23,000, but Winthrop waived the facility fee for Trump, as it did for all other candidates, to hold events during this year’s campaign. The Trump campaign insisted on some site fee payment, so the sides agreed on $500, according to Winthrop.

The remaining total cost for the event was $57,322 that the campaign paid the school in two installments, records show.

Winthrop has its own police force, but it was not large enough to handle the Trump event. So, Winthrop police hired off-duty police and sheriff’s officers as well as private security. Winthrop police who worked the event were paid by the campaign for their hours as well, records show.

Records provided by Winthrop show $42,140 was spent for public law enforcement, fire and emergency medical support at the Trump speech. A private security firm called EPI cost another $7,000.

The event had law enforcement working traffic, parking areas and inside the building.

Rock Hill city officials and police said normal public safety duties weren’t negatively affected by the visit, including when 42 officers from the city police force worked the Trump event.

“There was no interruption in services provided by the Rock Hill Police Department before or during these events,” Rock Hill police Lt. Michael Chavis said.

All York County deputies who worked the Trump event were on an “extra-duty assignment” off-shift and were paid by Winthrop, according to Heather Mouzon, staff lawyer for the sheriff’s office.

“None of these deputies were paid by York County to provide security for this event,” Mouzon said.

Costs also included a 5% administration fee charged to the Trump campaign that came to $3,796. Another part of the total cost was $3,384 for on-site Winthrop workers that included maintenance, an electrician and plumber, groundskeepers and coliseum staff.

There were $288 in costs for tearing down and putting back up ESPN material in the coliseum. There was another $108 cost for a facilities setup and tear down crew.

Other Winthrop events

Winthrop hosted other candidates during the primary cycle, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchison and Marianne Williamson.

Kennedy appeared at Winthrop in September 2023. He was a Democratic candidate at that time, but now is running as an independent. The cost to the school was $1,542, which the Kennedy campaign paid Winthrop, records show. Kennedy brought his own security, who worked with Winthrop police, the school said.

When DeSantis and Hutchison spoke at Winthrop in October 2023, it was an event put on by the S.C. and N.C. Federation of Republican Women. All Republican candidates active at that point were invited, records and invoices from Winthrop show. That political group paid for the law enforcement costs, catering and other event hospitality expenses, records show.

The political group paid the $5,530 cost for law enforcement from Winthrop police and off-duty Rock Hill officers for that DeSantis and Hutchison event.

Seven Rock Hill officers working off-duty were paid a combined total of $2,756 for working that day in October, city records show.

Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy spoke at Winthrop in early October. He paid $1,730 to the university, records show.

Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson appeared at Winthrop in December at a campus student center. The $218 cost was paid to the school by the campaign.

Records for the Ramaswamy and Williamson events did not show any extra costs for police.

Nikki Haley speeches in Indian Land, Rock Hill

In Rock Hill, Haley spoke a week before the primary at the Magnolia Room, a private venue. Rock Hill police provided six off-duty officers to work the event at a cost of $992.50. The campaign paid the costs for those officers, records show.

Haley also spoke in Indian Land in Lancaster County in August 2023 and early February leading up to the primary.

At the events in Indian Land, there was no need for extra personnel or overtime, said Doug Barfield, spokesman for the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies working normal shifts in Indian Land were advised of the events, Barfield said.

“We had people who were on duty swing by the event to make sure everything was okay,” Barfield said.