|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
by WILL FOLKS
***
Isle of Palms, South Carolina businessman Rom Reddy – the multi-millionaire founder of the DOGE SC movement – will put an end to months of speculation regarding his political future this week.
Reddy is set to announce his intention to seek South Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nomination sometime this week, multiple sources familiar with his planning confirmed to FITSNews via text message.
“He is filing next week,” one Lowcountry party official texted us last Thursday.
Another party official independently confirmed Reddy’s plans to FITSNews.
Reddy’s strategist, Wesley Donehue, did not immediately respond to this media outlet’s request for comment.
Reddy’s impending announcement will turn a “wide open” GOP primary on its ear – fundamentally reshaping the race to replace outgoing status quo governor Henry McMaster, who is term limited.
***
Just last week, we cited fresh polling concluding there was “no clear standard-bearer” in the GOP gubernatorial primary – which is the race to watch in the Palmetto State given Democrats’ ongoing irrelevance in statewide elections.
Per the latest data, four-term attorney general Alan Wilson and first district congresswoman Nancy Mace are tied atop the Republican field – each receiving 22% support. Lieutenant governor Pamela Evette is behind them at 16%, followed by fifth district congressman Ralph Norman at 11%.
None of them have broken free of the field, though, and as this media outlet has consistently pointed out – we believe those levels of support are soft.
While Reddy is unlikely to constitute a blip on the radar initially, the vast resources he is capable of plugging into his candidacy should change that… and quickly.
Also, Reddy has spent the better part of the last year developing a grassroots army via his DOGE movement – which has been instrumental in advancing critical reform efforts in the S.C. General Assembly. This ground game gives him a huge advantage in the upcoming twelve-week sprint to the June 9, 2026 partisan primary election.
***
RELATED | NEW POLL SHOWS GOVERNOR’S RACE ‘WIDE OPEN’
***
Reddy also possesses something many of the other candidates in this race have struggled to demonstrate: substance.
Through DOGE SC, he has laid out numerous key policy planks which – in addition to speaking to the concerns of GOP primary voters – are critical to fundamentally reshaping the Palmetto State’s broken system of government, routing more power (and more money) to the people.
As we noted in assessing last week’s polling data, the percentage of GOP primary voters who are currently undecided is significant – and expanding.
“Perhaps the most important development, however, is the growth of the undecided vote,” a new survey from Quantus Insights noted. “The share of voters still making up their minds has expanded since October, suggesting that as the field becomes clearer and the campaign begins in earnest, many Republicans are reassessing their options rather than locking into an early preference.”
Will Reddy be able to use his expansive wealth, established ground game and substantive reform agenda to capitalize on this ongoing voter “reassessment?”
We shall see… but his entry into the race is sparking a dramatic recalibration of the Palmetto State’s political calculus.
***
UPDATE |
Reddy’s hometown paper, The Island Eye, gets the first official confirmation… and reports that Reddy “will not accept any campaign donations for the upcoming primaries nor will he seek endorsements.” Reddy also vowed “an immediate seven figure statewide two week advertising buy.”
***
UPDATE 2 |
Reddy’s campaign makes it official…
I’m running for Governor to stop the weaponization of government and to return money and power to you, the citizen.
— Rom Reddy (@RomReddySC) March 16, 2026
This race comes down to two lanes.
In one lane:
Four career politicians. More than 50 years in government. The same system. The same promises. The same results.… pic.twitter.com/9gL1xyuGNt
***
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.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to address proactively? We have an open microphone policy! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
18 comments
Great, another candidate no one wants.
Not much of anyone wants Wilson. His roots run deep with the notoriously corrupt general assembly
Just what the world needs now, another egotistical millionaire with loony ideas cosplaying as a populist.
Always angry and full of cow poo, aren’t you
Did you know the Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission (CCPR) has faced multiple lawsuits recently, largely involving safety violations, numerous incidents and injuries at their facilities. Key cases include wrongful death lawsuits regarding children drownings at park ponds, accidents involving contractors on site, and issues concerning property, with several cases leading to ongoing litigation. There are even serious highly dangerous electrical issues that the park system intentionally ignores. They don’t have competent maintenance personal and the park commission is not sincere at all about safety and protecting the public from the parks gross and reckless negligence. The parks employees and their own management refuses to wear seatbelts while operating government motor vehicles and equipment. One management employee was almost ejected from a gas powered low speed vehicle for not having a seat belt on. He could have been killed.
Being that the park system is a separate government entity allowed by statute of law, the Charleston County Park system needs to be taken over by state and the governor’s office.
Governor Reddy is not a blow hard like all the rest running for office. He certainly is not afraid to tell it like it is, either. He will take action as SC’s governor. Even the City of Charleston that fails to cite and prosecute CCPR is full of incompetent public servants just like the state. Reddy has honest motivations to turn SC around and end all the bullshit that keeps growing and growing
He is the one. And at first I didn’t trust him. Now months later it is easy to see he is upright and just, has morals and values.. And SC needs him more than ever. All the rest are blowhards.
Thank you Mrs. Reddy. Now go back to day drinking.
He hasn’t seen the sign, “You must be at least this tall to run for Governor”. Nobody likes a little squirt with a punchable face.
You have been reported to law enforcement.
Oh dear… that doesn’t sound good.
Anyway, does Rom realize this is for the Governor of South Carolina… not the President of the Lollypop Guild?
This guy is a joke. He built an illegal seawall in Isle of Palms, wasted everyone time and tax dollars. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself.
Shut up, Wilson.
SC has been controlled by Republicans for decades now. But somehow, the only way to “fix” the state is to elect more Republicans. Year after year, the people of this state vote against their own interests because Republicans have been so successful at using culture wars, racism, and fake Christianity to get their vote. Republicans don’t care about anything except getting tax cuts or money to their rich donors and lining their own pockets. Every single Republican running for Governor says the problem is that SC is spending too much money. What is left off the end of that sentence is “on the people.” How can we cut taxes on the rich if the state has to keep benefiting middle-class citizens? SC’s working-class people are just nobodies to be manipulated. Screwing middle-class Americans is exactly what federal DOGE did and what SC DOGE will do.
But you can’t fix stupid. So until the people of this state understand that Republicans have been using their hate, prejudice, and lack of understanding of real Christianity to manipulate them and dupe them into hurting themselves as GOP donors laugh all the way to the bank, nothing will change.
Just like Trump. The Republicans running for Governor are just grifters. How long do red states have to be at the bottom of the pack on everything before people realize who is running their state into the ground?
Everything Communist liberals touch, like you, they cook it all up.
And did I say you and your altered egos have the appeal of a paper cut?
I love Republican ass holes. They have no self-awareness. Every time their Dear Leader speaks, 70% of the sentences coming out of his mouth are lies. Republicans have learned from Trump that there are no consequences to lying, so they all do it now. They lie to your face. They make up lies on the fly and swear its true. I knew from Kelly Ann Conway’s “alternative facts” comment the last time Trump was in office that this is what we would be facing. The cult is dumb, so lie to them. If you want to know who has the appeal of a paper cut, look at Trump’s poll numbers.
Ah yes, when I think “success”, I think “DOGE”
This hurts Alan and helps Nancy, obviously this whackadoo wont break 3%
Dumb
SO – is Dylan jumping ship permanently to work w/ the the Reddy campaign???? Say it ain’t so, Dylan/Will ….
Ron Reddy is a question mark candidate. I have spent some time trying to track down biographical and specific platform initiatives without success. He doesn’t seem to be able to express a competent understanding of how the state is organized at the county or state level. His presence comes off as an outsider with no appreciation for what the state was, is or needs.