Palmetto Political Stock Index: 4/15/2025

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The 2025 session of the South Carolina General Assembly is now very much in its homestretch. In just a few days, Palmetto State lawmakers will shift into full-blown stampede mode with several big issues left to tackle – including the passage of a budget and some iteration of tax relief.

Tensions are higher than ever under the copper dome after leaders in the ostensibly GOP-controlled House of Representatives were embarrassed over their ill-conceived tax proposal – which has been effectively scrapped after word leaked it would raise taxes on middle class income earners by nearly $1 billion.

Last week, leaders in the “Republican-“controlled Senate took advantage of the House’s misfortune – making several moves at the committee level which further isolated embattled speaker Murrell Smith.

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Every Monday, we follow the trajectories of national politicos via the ‘FITSNews Political Stock Index.’ And every Tuesday, we publish the ‘Palmetto Political Stock Index’ – which assesses politicos from our home state of South Carolina, host of the quadrennial “First in the Nation” (for Democrats) and “First in the South” (for Republicans) presidential primaries.

Got a hot “stock tip” for either of these indices? Email Will Folks (here) and/or Mark Powell (here).

Where should you invest your Palmetto political capital this week? To the index…

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HARVEY PEELER

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STOCK: RISING

To borrow from Charles Dickens, these are the best of times for Harvey Peeler. The Senate finance committee chairman is making his influence felt all over the capitol right now – and he’s making the head of the other chamber squirm.

For starters, Peeler deftly and distinctly out-flanked House Speaker Murrell Smith on earmarks – proposing a hard stop on the secretive pork barrel spending. Smith’s chamber put out an “us, too!” press release, but it was too little, too late.

The final math on Peeler’s proposed budget? $38.9 billion – a whopping $2.78 trillion less than the mammoth plan that cleared the House last month. Peeler’s committee also resoundingly smoked the lame tax reform proposal that Smith fathered – cutting approximately $290 million with promises of more relief to come.

But here’s the real genius of Peeler’s maneuver: By holding Smith’s feet to the fire on these bread-and-butter fiscal issues, he snatched out of his hands one of the speaker’s prize plums: the ability to essentially buy the loyalty of his Republican Caucus members by showering their districts with funding for cherished pet projects. 

In short, Peeler now has Murrell Smith bent over a barrel.

Little wonder, then, that political analysts are giving his stock their “buy” recommendation.  

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SANFORD ALUMS

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STOCK: HOLDING

Frequent members of our audience know FITSNews‘ founding editor, Will Folks, once served as press secretary in the administration of former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

He’s not the only Sanford alum to occupy a position of influence in Palmetto politics, though…

Former Sanford policy whiz Scott English reentered the public arena with his newly launched “Political Hangover” page. It’s a fun, breezy peek behind the curtain of state government that’s chock-full of insights.

Then there’s Joel Sawyer, the communications guru who had the great misfortune of being buried under an avalanche of reporter phone calls during his boss’s whole “Hiking the Appalachian Trial” debacle.

You’d think one tour of duty in Hell would have been plenty for Sawyer – but you’d be wrong.

As we exclusively reported, he’s now the driving force behind a new entity called the S.C. Growth & Freedom Alliance. Its mission: to take down the S.C. Freedom Caucus.

You’ll recall that assignment was given to the Palmetto Truth Project in the 2024 cycle. Its coffers were filled to overflowing with cash as it sought to destroy the dozen-plus House conservative firebrands in the GOP primary that June. And it was every bit as successful as George Armstrong Custer’s foray into the Black Hills. (For those of you who slept through high school history, Custer’s soldiers and the entire collection of anti-Freedom Caucus candidates were all slaughtered).

Don’t look for this to be Palmetto Truth Project 2.0. For one thing, Sawyer is smarter (and savvier) than the Larry, Darryl, and Darryl bunch behind the Truth Project two years ago. But the fact remains he’s putting his skills to work to sustain the very people who perpetuate South Carolina’s problems.        

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DAVID PASCOE

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STOCK: HOLDING

It was big news last week when S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe jumped ship and switched the letter after his name from D to R. It’s seen by many as a prelude to a run for attorney general next year.

Make no mistake: Pascoe’s partisan transition is more than political window dressing. He recognizes South Carolina’s judicial system as a fetid mire reeking to high heaven. He also has serious legal chops as a successful prosecutor who takes crime every bit as seriously as sheriff Matt Dillon did.

In fact, he cited Democrats’ perpetual accommodation of violent criminals as the chief reason behind his decision to play for the other team.

Many top Republicans welcomed Pascoe with open arms. But how will his switcheroo play with GOP primary voters next year? 

“Who are you fooling, David?” state Democratic Party chairwoman Christale Spain shared. “Do you think South Carolina Republicans are going to let a 20-year Democrat who suddenly has a change of heart be their nominee for attorney general?”

Flipping from donkey to elephant has rarely hurt Palmetto candidates. That granddaddy of all party flippers, Strom Thurmond, became a Republican in 1964… and continued serving in the U.S. Senate for the next 39 years. Lord knows the General Assembly is filled with Republican legislators who once were Democrats—and whose voting records still remind us of that.

The problem? There’s a lot of footage over the years of Pascoe cozying up to Democrat luminaries like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden – newsreels which are likely to figure prominently in attack ads against him over the coming months.

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S.C. DEMOCRATS

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STOCK: FALLING

As you’d expect, Democrats see Pascoe’s switch as a defection. And just like when someone is dumped in a romantic relationship, the dump-ee never has a kind word to say about the dumper.

So, their reaction is understandably summed up thusly: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

Still, Pascoe’s parting is a painful reminder of a bigger problem facing the state’s perpetual minority party – one that transcends a simple partisan desertion. Bottom line: if you want to win statewide office in South Carolina today, your name damn sure better appear in the Republican column.

This is hardly breaking news. The trend has been established for decades now, and it picks up speed with each election cycle. Except for a few enclaves here and there, Democratic precincts are becoming relics of another age. “Look, kids,” teachers may one day tell students gathered around a display in the State Museum. “Our home was once inhabited by people called ‘Democrats.’” 

South Carolina Democrats’ attitude does no favors for the democratic process. The root of the problem is the SCDP’s servile subservience to the progressive crew sitting in the DNC’s cockpit these days. State Dems lust for their approval and acceptance.

“See, we’re not like those other dumb Southern rednecks,” they insist. “We’re really one of you.”

Hence, they stubbornly stay in devoted lockstep with D.C., militantly supporting positions that South Carolina voters reject election after election after election.

Their response each time? “If you don’t vote our way, you’re the one with the problem, not us.” As a result, election night continues to be their biennial exercise in Masochism.

“She didn’t dump me; I dumped her,” 8th-grade boys say afterward to protect their shattered ego. The same conversation is going on within the SCDP these days, too. 

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