FITSNews Political Stock Index – 4/30/2024

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We’re now less than a month away from the start of early voting in South Carolina’s 2024 partisan primary elections – including a pair of bitterly contested GOP congressional races in opposite corners of the state.

Whose stock is rising? Falling? Holding? You’ve come to the right place to find out where you should invest your political capital.

Over the last year, our founding editor Will Folks and political columnist Mark Powell have been monitoring political developments in South Carolina and beyond via our FITSNews Political Stock Index.  With the ‘First in the South’ presidential primary season now in the rearview, our index has been focusing more intently on statewide developments.

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As previously noted, each installment of this index is an assessment of how our subjects fared over the previous week. Positive reports don’t reflect endorsements, and negative ones aren’t (necessarily) indicative of vendettas. We just call ‘em like we see ‘em.

To view the most recent index, click here. And to get your historical fix, click here.

Got a hot “stock tip” for our consideration? Email Will (here) and/ or Mark (here). Just make sure to include “Palmetto Political Stock Index” in the subject line.

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SOUTH CAROLINA’S “FIGHTIN’ FOURTH”

STOCK: RISING

The battle for South Carolina’s fourth congressional district in the Palmetto Upstate was supposed to be the race to watch this election cycle. Attention recently shifted to the Lowcountry, though, where the first congressional district contest stole the spotlight. To which the “fightin’ fourth” replied, “hold my beer.”

Beleaguered incumbent congressman William Timmons and his fiery hard right challenger – state representative and SC Freedom Caucus chairman Adam Morgan – faced off against each other Monday afternoon in their first joint forum.

The first half of this event – hosted by the Greenville County Republican Women – was decidedly ho-hum. Midway through the gathering, however, we finally got down to the one thing people wanted to hear about: The self-leaked extramarital affair that ended Timmons’ marriage.

Timmons delicately sidestepped the cause of his marriage’s implosion, instead playing the “Stand By Your (Ex) Man” card. According to him, while his former spouse couldn’t attend the event – she supports his reelection bid.

“Look, it’s sad that I’m no longer married, but that’s all I’ve got,” he said as he wrapped up his response.

Morgan stuck to his conservative messaging, saying in his closing statement, “I want to take D.C. by storm with Upstate South Carolina values.”

Observers noted Morgan drew more cheers than Timmons during the encounter, and perhaps more tellingly, they saw multiple women shaking their heads in disapproval when Timmons’ waded through his marital mess. 

One campaign event does not an election make, but if Monday’s meeting is any indication it suggests the congressman still has a lot of work ahead of him to hold on to his seat.

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COLLEGE ANTISEMITISM

STOCK: RISING

Flaunting hatred for Israel is a hot trend on college campuses this spring. Young far left progressives have dropped the pretense of merely being pro-Palestinian and are now brazenly proclaiming themselves for what they really are: Rabidly intense haters of Israel – and of the Jews.

New York City’s Columbia University is Ground Zero for the uprising, with students occupying Hamilton Hall on campus and destroying property therein. But the hatred isn’t limited to the Big Apple. Protesting Israel has become fashionable on campuses from coast to coast. Earlier this month, the University of Southern California took the extreme step of canceling its commencement ceremony out of concerns demonstrators would disrupt it.

The wild card factor in all this the impact of the protests on the presidential race. Readers of a certain age will recall the ugly anti-war protests that rocked the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago (and how things turned out for Democrats that November, too).

Could Joe Biden be a victim of a similar scenario?

The Israel-Hamas war shows no signs of easing up any time soon. If progressive protests continue into the convention phase of the campaign this summer, could we be in for a case of history repeating itself when Democrats gather in Chicago once more come August? 

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CURTIS LOFTIS

STOCK: RISING

South Carolina treasurer Curtis Loftis is breathing easier these days. Despite the best efforts of his arch nemesis, state senator Larry Grooms, a legislative panel did not recommend impeachment charges against him. At issue is a $1.8 billion surplus that suddenly turned up out of nowhere. 

Grooms and other lawmakers want to spend this money, Loftis wants to give it back to taxpayers.

It’s still possible – though highly unlikely – the House could move on impeachment. As one House member told us, though, “there’s no just no will there to do that.”

What’s really at play here isn’t Loftis’ service as treasurer. Grooms’ ham-fisted impeachment push was actually a smokescreen, a distraction intended to divert public attention away from that pile of “found money” so the spend, spend, spend crowd could divvy it up on pet projects.

The first part of their plan failed; will the second?

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DONALD TRUMP

STOCK: HOLDING

Another day … another day in court for defendant Donald Trump. As his trial over allegedly paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels plays out inside a Manhattan courtroom, his presidential campaign goes on. Trump’s polling numbers have shown some slippage of late, however a CNN poll released over the weekend found his lead over Joe Biden was holding steady.

There was a mixed bag of news for Trump on the political front. He huddled with former rival Ron DeSantis Sunday morning in Miami. Their kiss and make-up session could prove financially advantageous if DeSantis applies his fundraising prowess on the former president’s behalf.

But it’s not all smooth sailing for the GOP nominee in waiting. Pennsylvania held its presidential primary last week, and 150,000 Keystone State Republicans cast their ballot for … Nikki Haley. Trump’s 83 percent win was a sharp contrast to Biden’s 92 percent victory. Meaning #NeverTrumpers are still living up to their name.

Can Trump navigate his legal and political obstacles and emerge victorious in November? He clearly has his work cut out for him …

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SOUTH CAROLINA GOP

STOCK: FALLING

These are hardly the salad days for the folks who run South Carolina’s ruling Republican Party. First, state chair Drew McKissick, who long harbored dreams of becoming the RNC’s national chairman, saw them go up in smoke when former president Donald Trump picked someone else for the job.

Next, the SCGOP’s rules committee gave the boot to three delegates to the party’s upcoming state convention. The reason? They all gave money to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign.

Finally, longtime executive director Hope Walker Rossi will be leaving the party soon for an as-yet-unannounced new gig – possibly a position at the S.C. State House.

Having handled the nuts and bolts of the SCGOP’s daily operations for six years, Rossi’s departure creates a huge void for McKissick. And it comes at a time when Lowcountry Republicans are splitting over their congressional choices, Grand Strand Republicans are waging their perpetual political jihad, and Upstate Republicans are poised to rip down the middle over the aforementioned Timmons-Morgan contest.

Good luck riding that tiger, Mr. Chairman. You’re gonna need it …

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JOE BIDEN

STOCK: FALLING

Can anybody in the White House save this guy from himself? Last week, the octogenarian incumbent suffered the very type of gaffe he must avoid above all others: One that simultaneously showcases his advancing years and his declining mental sharpness.

Reading from a teleprompter as he addressed a trade union conference, Biden said — and we’re quoting here — “imagine what we could do next. Four more years. Pause.”

That “pause” wasn’t part of the speech, though. It was an instruction to stop and let the audience applaud.

Oopsie!

The White House rolled into full-blown damage control mode. Friday, Biden counterattacked during a surprise call to Howard Stern’s radio show, saying he’s planning on debating GOP nominee Donald Trump this fall. For his part, Trump shot back on social media, telling Biden “ANYWHERE, ANYTIME, ANYPLACE.”

But Biden faces far bigger problems. By this point, it’s abundantly clear the far left is gleefully inflicting as much misery as it can on middle-class Americans. Not content with straddling every American consumer with the inflation caused by its addiction to runaway federal spending, not satisfied that we’re paying more for fuel at the pump due to its war on oil and natural gas, it’s now tightening the screws even more. 

Biden’s EPA unveiled new regulations for power plants last week that are so draconian one energy analyst calls them “completely out of touch with reality.” They will make it harder for plants to generate electricity — and at precisely the same time, the federal government is driving the U.S. to go green and use more juice. Just where exactly all that extra power will come from is a mystery. Biden mutters and mumbles about solar and wind generation. But ask Europeans what happened recently when that continent experienced a “wind drought,” sending its power supply plummeting.

Oh, and the price you will soon pay for whatever electricity you can get will shoot through the roof, too.

“Imagine what we can do next.” You said it, Joe.

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KRISTI NOEM

STOCK: FALLING

Seriously, hasn’t she ever seen Disney’s “Old Yeller?”

Long a darling of the right, speculation has swirled for months that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem would be a great VEEP selection in 2024. Then, the attacks began.

The worst was a claim that surfaced last fall saying the married governor had a long-term affair with a top Trump political advisor. Though she denied it, the allegation started her on a steady slide down the potential VP list.

Now, she may have slid off it entirely.

In a bizarre move intended to somehow show her inner toughness, Noem described in her new book how she “hated” (her word) an unruly, undisciplined family dog and ultimately took matters into her own hands by dragging the poor pooch to a gravel pit and dispatching it to that Great Kennel In the Sky. (She went on to write about how a “nasty” goat got the same capital punishment delivered by her in the same gravel pit.)

As a Democrat friend of ours observed, “How could someone misjudge the political waters so much that they would write about hating their puppy and then shooting it???” Finally, an issue on which Democrats, Republicans, and independents can all agree!

Memo to the Gun-Totin’ Guv: Lassie. Benji. Toto. Rin Tin Tin. Beethoven. Marley. Hell, even Snoopy, Scooby Doo, and 101 Dalmatians. People love dogs. Get it?

Hope you like lovely Pierre, S.D., lady. You won’t be going to Washington anytime soon.

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