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by WILL FOLKS
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Since assuming “supermajority” status at the South Carolina State House in 2022, so-called “Republican” lawmakers have become quite adept at using hot-button conservative issues as a means of providing cover for political mischief.
By embedding harmful fine print addendums into so-called reform bills – or inserting cleverly worded poison pills into popular pieces of legislation – they perpetually tighten their stranglehold on power via lies, misdirection and subterfuge.
The latest example of this chronic deception? A calculated attempt to manipulate voters who want to close the GOP primary to Democrat voters – a concept strongly supported by the conservative wing of the party. Conservative activists believe the Palmetto State’s open primary system – in which any voter can cast a ballot in any partisan primary election – permits Democrats to meddle in GOP primaries.
Primary elections – held in June in even-numbered years – draw far fewer voters than the general election races held in November. That’s unfortunate because the primary races are the ones that count in South Carolina. Given how Palmetto political boundaries have been drawn to protect incumbents, primary elections are usually the only political races in the Palmetto State which are even remotely competitive.
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According to conservatives, Democrat meddling in Republican primaries has resulted in the election of GOP office-holders who are insufficiently loyal to the party’s stated principles of lower taxes, less government and more individual liberty.
Which, come to think of it… is a legitimate criticism.
Rather than simply address this criticism, though, GOP leaders are leveraging the issue to their own nefarious ends. Tucked within the “preferred” closed primary legislation are conditions which go way beyond voter qualifications – conditions which address the eligibility of candidates themselves. Included among those conditions are new prohibitions which could conceivably remove multiple candidates from the ballot in 2026.
Specifically, the bill touted by GOP leadership – H. 3643 – would render candidates ineligible to seek a partisan nomination unless they “voted in two of the last three statewide primaries of a certified political party.”
Such a restriction would result in the removal from the ballot of S.C. first circuit solicitor David Pascoe, one of the early frontrunners in the race for attorney general. It would also result in the removal from the ballot of retired U.S. Air Force colonel Alex Pelbath, one of the top contenders in the race for the Palmetto State’s first congressional district.
Pelbath posted a video message on Friday urging citizens to oppose any attempt to remove him from the ballot…
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?URGENT ALERT:
— Alex Pelbath (@PelbathForSC) January 16, 2026
The establishment party bosses in SC are trying to rig the election for their preferred career politicians by forcing me off the ballot with HB3643. We can – and MUST – stop them. #SC01
Join our fight at https://t.co/AJ6IkyHLqd pic.twitter.com/iQemteoTYx
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Our friends at Palmetto Watch were the first to report on this sham of a bill, correctly identifying it as an attempt to “remove all candidates from the Republican ticket that are not in the ‘good ole boys’ club.”
Palmetto Watch also slammed the bill’s lead sponsor, state representative Brandon Newton, as “the SCGOP’s poster child for filing bills that benefit Republican leadership.”
Since Palmetto Watch published its report, six lawmakers have removed their names as co-sponsors of the bill.
Fortunately for supporters of closed primaries, there is pending legislation before the S.C. General Assembly which accomplishes what conservative activists are clamoring for – without removing candidates from the ballot. H. 3310 is billed by its supporters as a “clean” closed primary bill – one which would require voters to register by party and vote only in the primary of the party to which they are registered (but would not remove candidates from the ballot).
U.S. congressman (and 2026 gubernatorial candidate) Ralph Norman and his allies in the S.C. Freedom Caucus are pushing this “clean” closed primary bill – which has attracted eight new sponsors within the last week.
“Republican voters demand that we close our primaries, and the RINOs in Columbia aren’t making the legislation a priority,” Norman said in a release. “The Judiciary subcommittee is using stall tactics and it’s unacceptable. As governor, I will use the bully pulpit to get this done and I hope grassroots Republicans make their dissatisfaction heard. The Judiciary subcommittee should stop playing games and pass closed primaries immediately!”
Sadly, “playing games” is the rule not the exception for South Carolina’s governing “supermajority…” on this issue and many others at the S.C. State House.
And that seems unlikely to change anytime soon…
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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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1 comment
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