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by WILL FOLKS
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In a few days time, we’ll be welcoming South Carolina state representative Jermaine Johnson to our studios to talk about his recently launched 2026 bid for governor of the Palmetto State. Johnson is an intriguing candidate – a substantive, telegenic, relatable and articulate bridge builder who moves with ease in diverse circles – and boasts an inspiring back story to boot.
Almost everyone who knows him, likes him… and if his party were even remotely competitive in statewide elections, he’d be the type of candidate Republicans would need to take very seriously.
His party is not remotely competitive, though.. and hasn’t been for decades. Instead, his party is completely immaterial at the statewide level. Not only that, Democrats’ continued embrace of divisive wokeness, discriminatory identitypolitik and demeaning dependency economics has positioned it so far out of the realm common sense it might never be competitive again.
The saving grace for left-of-center ideologues? A majority of South Carolina “Republicans” have embraced the same civic values as the Democrats who preceded them – meaning the same failed political fiefdoms and corrupt byzantine bureaucracies that held South Carolina back under super-majority Democrat rule during the previous century have essentially respawned under the Republican monolith that governs the state today.
Expanded, even…
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In preparing for the upcoming election cycle, I’ve published numerous articles about various Palmetto political races – articles which contain the same depressing context (for Democrats). I point out how no Democrat has won the presidential popular vote here since 1976, how no Democrat has won a governor’s race (or U.S. Senate election) since 1998 and how no Democrat has won a statewide election of any kind in twenty years.
The last two to win at the top of the ticket? The late Fritz Hollings, who beat centrist GOP congressman Bob Inglis in 1998 to secure his final term in the U.S. Senate – and former governor Jim Hodges, who defeated a “former” Democrat named David Beasley that same year.
Meanwhile, no Democrat has won a statewide election in South Carolina since 2006 – when Jim Rex defeated former GOP chair Karen Floyd in the race for state superintendent of education by a mere 455 votes. Rex later bolted the Democrat party, incidentally…
Is it any wonder, then, that Democrats who wish to be relevant at the statewide level stand for election (and often win election) as Republicans?
Or that the governing GOP majority has repeatedly rebuked conservatives’ push to close its primary elections to registered Republican voters?
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The last Democratic gubernatorial nominee – former congressman Joe Cunningham – drew a meager 40.7% of the vote. The last Democratic U.S. Senate candidate – former state representative Krystle Matthews – drew just 37%. Last fall, former vice president Kamala Harris put up an embarrassing 40.3% in South Carolina – Democrats’ worst showing in a presidential election in the Palmetto State since 1992.
Democrats hold zero U.S. Senate seats, zero statewide elected offices and just one of the state’s seven congressional districts (the heavily gerrymandered sixth district). The party also has super-minority status in both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly – which is where the real power lies in the Palmetto State. In the S.C. Senate, they hold 12 of 46 seats and in the S.C. House they hold 36 of 124 seats.
No matter what you think of a party, its platform or its people… that is definitional irrelevance.
Democrats have no one but themselves to blame for their descent into disregard. In addition to diving headfirst into the aforementioned woke/socialist clown car, they’ve also drawn themselves out of existence when it comes to the establishment of the state’s electoral boundaries – one of the key ways political power is wielded (and abused) in the Palmetto State. By insisting on the creation of “majority-minority” legislative districts – i.e. the creation of seats with artificially inflated numbers of minority voters – Democrats have ceded competitiveness across the board.
This race-based district-drawing has contributed to a staggering lack of electoral competition – compounding the party’s lack of statewide influence. This accumulated anti-competitiveness, not surprisingly, has contributed to a subsequent lack of accountability over the Palmetto State’s perpetually results-challenged state government.
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Why would politicians (of either party) lift a finger to fix a broken system if there are absolutely no electoral consequences associated with failing to do so? Why would they reform anything in state government when they can continue profiting from its chronic chaos and divisive dysfunction with impunity?
Short answer – they wouldn’t. And they haven’t… inviting tragic consequences and shameful outcomes.
FITSNews has advocated against this gravitational grift – and on behalf of competitive elections – for the better part of the past decade. Seven years ago, I penned a column on the dearth of electoral options in the Palmetto State and how harmful the ensuing lack of accountability was for citizens and taxpayers.
“Republicans and Democrats in South Carolina continue to draw (political boundaries) that insulate incumbents – denying voters real choices at the ballot box,” I noted at the time. “Not surprisingly, this lack of choice leads to a lack of accountability – which leads to a lack of progress on a host of fronts.”
Indeed. Which is why South Carolina is a state where progress goes to die…
In that election cycle, only five of the 124 S.C. House elections were decided by single digits. By contrast, 45 races featured elections decided by twenty points or more and 68 races featured candidates who faced no general election opposition at all.
“Does that sound like representative democracy to you?” I asked at the time.
During the last statewide election cycle in 2022, I recapped the many failings of incumbent GOP governor Henry McMaster – expressing a fervent desire that he face a credible challenger. He did not… yielding a final four-year term which has been a case study in institutional laziness, intellectual incuriosity and zen-like political disengagement.
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It’s been said by many a politician that “decisions are made by those who show up.” That’s true – but what incentive is there to show up if there’s no choice? Or, to steal from Phyllis Schlafley… if the choice is nothing but an echo?
Partisan primary elections have offered an occasional respite from this self-sustaining doom loop – and provided some limited accountability over our elected leaders. Thankfully, this trend has picked up momentum in the last two election cycles with the emergence of the S.C. Freedom Caucus and the rise of a more robust conservative movement in the Palmetto State. But voter participation in these decisive primary races, which are held in June, is always dramatically lower than turnout in traditional November elections – making these races ripe for manipulation via special interest chicanery.
The root question is this: How do we fix a broken government when only a small fraction of the people who comprise it are exposed to potential electoral consequences?
South Carolina faces a critical crossroads in the coming years. Economic conditions are worsening as our population is set to surge, yet our current crop of “leaders” is interested only in the preservation of patronage, the accumulation of personal wealth and the peddling of unjustly obtained influence. Despite levying some of the highest taxes in the southeast – and despite “Republicans” growing government faster than Democrats dared to dream – our state continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in employment, income levels, academic achievement, infrastructure, public safety and virtually every other metric that matters.
Groups like DOGE SC are battling this broken paradigm, but when the rules of engagement are rigged in advance of the fight… there’s only so much that can be done.
Ultimately, only Democrats can make themselves relevant again… which will require a repudiation of much of the divisive dogma currently infecting the party. On a more fundamental level, only we the citizens can insist on changes that enhance electoral competitiveness… which is clearly going to be a similarly heavy lift.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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3 comments
As a general rule I am not inclined to like Democrat policies and platforms. Democrats openly favor infringements on our 2A rights as well as other things I find disturbing, like unchecked immigration. That said, I cannot say the Republicans are very relevant or good, either.
You have our us Senate delegation (aka “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”) who support garbage like “The Patriot Act” every time it comes up for renewal. They support funding incentives for states to adopt red flag laws. They do other evil shit, no different than Democrats.
Then you have bunches of RINO “Republicans” in our state Senate who try to gut any infringements on our 2A right as well as pass more unnecessary and burdensome laws such as this year’s cell phone law. Oh, and let’s not forget their voting for a big raise for themselves.
Our Governor for almost ten years is a joke. He closed businesses permanently with his Covid hysteria, just like a Democrat would. He vetoed a rare common sense bill supported by Democrats and Republicans that would have dropped recent charges for carrying a pistol unlawfully, because he forgets he is no longer a prosecutor, but is supposed to be a Governor. This law would have only helped people whose only “crime” was carrying a pistol without a permit. It would not help persons carrying in the commission of a crime or persons who are prohibited from owning firearms. Just people who were on the wrong side of an arbitrary date where it was illegal to carry without a permit and where it was legal to do so.
Speaking of McMaster, we get to our President who, as in his last term, promised great things but always seems to have problems delivering in any meaningful or lasting way. Trump’s endorsements saddled us with an additional eight years of McMaster, after the two he gifted Henry with for being in his corner in 2016. Had Trump not hired Haley (another mistake) as UN Ambassador, Henry would have never spent a night in The Governor’s Mansion. At the moment, Trump is still doing his best to antagonize Russia into a nuclear exchange.
While I doubt Mr Johnson is committed to restoring our 2A rights, I may vote for him because at least he is not among the terrible choices for Governor that the Republican Party is offering. Of course, straight-ticket voting, will guarantee many RINOs a new or another term of feeding at the taxpayer trough. If we ever get close to 50/50 Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature again, they really need to make “straight-ticket” voting go away. Make the dumbasses who habitually pull the R or the D lever have to think about their choices, at least a little bit.
Democrats have to keep trying, but they are far away from being relevant in SC at this time. That is because the Republicans have one issue Democrats can’t compete on. Republicans hate blacks, Mexicans, and Muslims. They mostly hate Jews, too, but they can’t say that right now because they hate the Muslims more and the whole Gaza thing.
Republicans have never offered any policies designed to benefit people who are working class or poor. They don’t value them or see them as anything other than labor. All of their policies have always centered on benefiting the rich and powerful, and never more so than today. But they can offer one thing. Hate. They will hate the same people you do. They will go after the people you hate and make their lives miserable. And apparently, for many South Carolinians, that is enough.
Careful, Nancy’s on her warpath after getting some money from her ex boyfriend.
Those who defy her, you’re next!
Have I ever told you just how wonderful and amazing she is.
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