Your SC politics briefing

Maayan Schechter
·3 min read

Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.

Let’s get the legislative-related news out of the way.

The South Carolina Senate is returning to Columbia — a surprise, even to some senators, who were sure they weren’t going to be called back until at least later in the fall, or the end of the year.

Senate President Harvey Peeler

The South Carolina Senate met at the State House for a one-day special session on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, to take up voting issues related to COVID-19.
The South Carolina Senate met at the State House for a one-day special session on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, to take up voting issues related to COVID-19.

Latest on the SC COVID front

DHEC Director Edward Simmer delivers an update on the state of the coronavirus during a press conference at the South Carolina Emergency Operations Center in June 2021.
DHEC Director Edward Simmer delivers an update on the state of the coronavirus during a press conference at the South Carolina Emergency Operations Center in June 2021.

SC Sen. Harpootlian goes on offense for Murdaugh

Today Show host Craig Melvin interviews attorney and South Carolina Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, about Alex Murdaugh on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.
Today Show host Craig Melvin interviews attorney and South Carolina Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, about Alex Murdaugh on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2021.

Buzz Bites

▪ South Carolina’s Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson has joined 23 other state attorneys general to warn the Biden administration that if their newly-announced vaccine mandate plan takes effect they will sue.

▪ Andrew Hatley, one of 10 South Carolinians so far charged in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, pleaded guilty to riot-related charges and admitted he deliberately tried to disrupt Congress during the electoral certification vote of now President Joe Biden.

▪ Gov. Henry McMaster and the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday denounced a Biden administration move to prevent the state from inputting work requirements for certain people on Medicaid.

▪ Two former Trump administration officials — Rick Perry and Reince Priebus — are among the first names set to highlight a three-day South Carolina GOP conference in Myrtle Beach meant to attract interested 2024 presidential candidates and politicos.

▪ York County-area residents asked state lawmakers this week to ensure district lines are drawn fairly as the Legislature gets ready to redraw South Carolina’s district maps, a once-in-a-decade process called redistricting.

▪ A Democratic congressman resurfaced a more-than-decade-old remark from South Carolina US Rep. Joe Wilson’s after the Springdale Republican accused the Biden administration Monday of lying about the Afghanistan withdrawal.

▪ An Oct. 7 date has been set for the sentencing of Kevin Marsh, the former CEO of SCANA who pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal conspiracy fraud charges involving a cover-up of financial troubles connected to the failure of the company’s $10 billion V.C. Summer nuclear project.

FILE - In a Sept. 21, 2016 file photo, Kevin Marsh, CEO of SCANA Corp., speaks to the media at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, S.C. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued SCANA Corp., its subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas along with the utility’s former CEO Kevin Marsh and Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. Federal officials say two former executives at a South Carolina utility, former CEO Kevin Marsh and Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne lied repeatedly to regulators and investors about the progress of construction of two nuclear reactors, taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of the pockets of investors and ratepayers.

National reads

AP: No major changes forecast as RNC discusses 2024 calendar

CNN: Woodward book: Worried Trump could ‘go rogue,’ Milley took top-secret action to protect nuclear weapons, with a quote from US Sen. Lindsey Graham.

AP: South Carolina officials want out of mask mandate ban suit

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2021 file photo, South Carolina Speaker Jay Lucas, R-Hartsville, gives a speech calling for decorum in the House in Columbia, S.C. Lucas sent a letter to his Republican colleagues in the House saying they would all meet as soon as they can to discuss how to fight an order from President Joe Biden ordering all larger businesses have their employees get COVID-19 vaccines or undergo weekly testing. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Mark your calendar

Sept. 20

SC Education Oversight Committee Academic Standards and Assessments/Public Awareness Subcommittees, 1 p.m.

House redistricting hearing in Aiken County, 6 p.m.

Sept. 21

Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Ad-Hoc Committee on Fire Services, 10 a.m.

House redistricting hearing in Greenwood County, 6 p.m.

Sept. 22

Senate Medical Affairs Subcommittee meeting to take testimony on “therapeutic options for individuals with COVID-19,” 9:45 a.m.

House redistricting hearing in Orangeburg County, 6 p.m.

Oct. 7

Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh will be sentenced to prison for his role in the V.C. Summer debacle

Oct. 12

Senate returns to session to tackle redistricting, federal COVID-19 relief aid and Savannah River Site settlement, 1 p.m.

Before we adjourn

You might have previously read our colleague Bristow Marchant’s recent piece about James Smith, a former state lawmaker and military veteran, who was desperately trying in the final days of the massive U.S. airlift to remove Afghan allies from Taliban-run Kabul.

Smith has been one of several Afghan veterans, contractors, aid workers or former spies stepping in to help the rush of Afghan evacuations since the Taliban overran the capital city of Kabul on Aug. 15.

Recently, Marchant tweeted good news.

Smith’s interpreter, who he was trying to help get out, has since been reunited with his wife and infant son. Marchant tweeted that they safely arrived in America after a harrowing struggle to get onboard an evacuation flight out of Kabul.

Democratic state Rep. James Smith is running for governor of South Carolina.
Democratic state Rep. James Smith is running for governor of South Carolina.

Who pulled together this week’s newsletter?

This week it was Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter), senior editor of the The State’s politics and state government team. You can keep up with her on Twitter and send her tips on Twitter at @MaayanSchechter or by email mschechter@thestate.com.

Make sure to sign up for our weekly politics newsletter that will come straight to your inbox every Friday morning. Tell your friends to do the same. For even more South Carolina-focused political news, you can chat with us on Facebook at the Buzz on South Carolina Politics, email us tips at thebuzz [at] thestate [dot] com and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.