|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
***
As I’ve traveled South Carolina during this campaign, I’ve discovered something interesting. Most voters know the Attorney General is an important office, but many aren’t exactly sure what the job entails.
That’s understandable.
Unlike a governor or a senator, the Attorney General’s success isn’t measured by speeches, press conferences, or headlines. It’s measured by whether criminals are prosecuted, victims receive justice, laws are defended, and constitutional rights are protected.
At its core, the Attorney General’s job comes down to three responsibilities: enforcing the law, defending the Constitution, and protecting South Carolina families. The Attorney General also has a duty to provide oversight of prosecutors across the state. Voters should ask whether a sitting prosecutor can objectively provide oversight of the very people he has worked alongside for years.
The question voters should ask isn’t who can talk the most about the office. It’s who has actually spent their life preparing for it? And who has the right experience to manage an office with 365 employees, prosecutors, and investigators?
My path to this race has been shaped by four experiences.
***
First, I’m a veteran and military prosecutor.
As a Judge Advocate General officer, I prosecuted serious criminal cases, including sexual assaults, and served as Chief of Military Justice for U.S. Africa Command during a deployment to North Africa. I have worked alongside law enforcement, prosecutors, and commanders responsible for some of the most sensitive legal and national security matters in the world.
Second, I’m a conservative legislator.
In the State House and State Senate, I’ve worked to strengthen criminal laws, increase penalties for violent offenders, support law enforcement, protect the Second Amendment, defend innocent life, and led the effort to deport criminal illegal immigrants. Good prosecutors need good laws. I’ve spent more than a decade helping write them. My efforts over the years have been rewarded by endorsements and awards from SC Citizens for Life, Palmetto Family Alliance, and the NRA.
Third, I’m a business owner.
Before entering public service, I built and sold South Carolina businesses. As an attorney, I’ve spent years helping individuals and businesses navigate government regulations and fight back when bureaucracies exceeded their authority. I understand that, far too often, government gets in the way of entrepreneurs and job creators.
Finally, I’m a conservative Republican who believes the Constitution means what it says.
***
RELATED | CROSSROADS 2026: RALPH NORMAN ENDORSES ALAN WILSON
***
South Carolina needs an Attorney General willing to stand up to federal overreach, challenge unlawful government action, and defend the rights of our citizens. Whether the threat comes from Washington bureaucrats, activist groups, or unelected agencies, the Attorney General’s responsibility is to protect the freedoms guaranteed to every South Carolinian.
That’s my background. But regardless of experience or credentials, an Attorney General must never lose sight of the office’s most basic responsibility: public safety.
Today, violent crime cases in parts of South Carolina remain unresolved for years. Victims wait. Families wait. Evidence grows stale. Justice delayed becomes justice denied. That should be unacceptable to every one of us.
The Attorney General’s office should be focused on helping clear violent crime backlogs, prosecuting dangerous criminals, protecting children from predators, combating fentanyl trafficking, cracking down on public corruption, and supporting local law enforcement.
The Attorney General is not South Carolina’s chief political commentator. The Attorney General is South Carolina’s chief law enforcement officer. As Republicans prepare to choose our nominee, I hope voters will look beyond personalities and find that I am the answer to the simple question: Who is most prepared on day one to lead the Attorney General’s office, enforce the law, defend the Constitution, and keep South Carolina families safe?
***
***
For me, the answer to that question became especially clear during my deployment to North Africa in 2023.
While serving overseas, I suffered a serious injury. What I thought would be a short delay turned into seven days waiting alone for a medivac and treatment. During that time, I had plenty of opportunity to think about home.
Eventually, a military aircraft arrived to take me to safety. The crew had flown from Joint Base Charleston. One of the pilots was from Mount Pleasant. And there, on the tail of the aircraft, was the Palmetto flag. Thousands of miles from home, it reminded me of everything that makes South Carolina special.
This is an extraordinary place to live, work, raise a family, start a business, and serve others. It is a state worth fighting for and worth protecting. That experience also reminded me that I still owe South Carolina a debt of gratitude.
I’ve been fortunate in business. I’ve been fortunate in public service. I’ve had the privilege of serving my country in uniform and representing the people of this state in the General Assembly. I’ve been extraordinarily blessed with a loving and supportive family. My wife, Renee, and I have been happily married for 20 years, and we have two wonderful children, Tripp, 10 and Hadlee,12.
The reason I am running for Attorney General is simple: That debt is not yet paid. My service to South Carolina is not finished.
I believe the best way I can repay it is by continuing to serve—protecting our laws from overreach by the federal government, fighting corruption, defending our Constitution, supporting law enforcement, and helping keep South Carolina families safe.
That is the mission of the Attorney General’s office. And that is the mission I will bring to the job.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Stephen Goldfinch is a Republican member of the South Carolina Senate representing District 34 and is current candidate for South Carolina Attorney General.
***
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.
1 comment
Bahahaha. You are anything but a conservative legislator. You are part of a broken and corrupted SC statehouse that works for big business, cronyism and insiders and disregards the citizens and taxpayers. You spend our money like drunken sailors. We are taxed excessively to provide a legislative wish list of everything that taxpayers are not responsible for. GTFOH with your conservative bs line.