by WILL FOLKS
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The results of the 2026 statewide elections have sparked panic at the South Carolina State House… and rightfully so. While Republicans retained every statewide constitutional office, their victory margins were narrower than expected – and the stunning defeat of establishment U.S. interim senator Darline Graham Nordone showed what can happen when party insiders and monied, out-of-state interests choose atrocious, out-of-touch candidates to represent the GOP.
More relevant to matters of state governance, at least ten (10) Republican members of the S.C. House of Representatives lost their seats this week – costing the GOP its supermajority in the chamber. Among the casualties was majority leader Micah Caskey, who has been one of the abrasively anti-conservative members of the legislature.
“(We) kept the majority and our candidates worked their butts off,” House Republican caucus strategist Hope Rossi wrote on X in the aftermath of the election. “I’m proud of that.”
She shouldn’t be proud…
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Republicans received a jarring preview of coming bloodbaths if they continue down their current road – which has consisted of underwhelming tax “relief,” refusal to provide emergency tax cuts, unsustainable government growth, unrestrained pork barrel spending and unaccountable crony capitalist debacles, to name just a few.
Simply put, the outcomes associated with these failed policies finally caught up with “Republicans,” just as this reporter predicted they would…
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??#Crossroads2026 ?#SCSuccession "They may win this election – and Republicans in South Carolina may continue to exert this monolithic control… but a reckoning for Republicans is coming." -@TheWillFolks https://t.co/wIAhJbzbZn
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) November 4, 2026
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There is some indication GOP leaders in the House – including speaker Murrell Smith and ways and means chairman Bruce Bannister – are aware of the need to make a dramatic course correction. And they will certainly be presented with ample opportunities to plot this ideological reorientation with a new chief executive in town.
On the eve of his election as the next governor of South Carolina, Alan Wilson – in an interview with FITSNews – said certain “influence aggregators” in the legislature were already rallying behind his agenda of income tax elimination, property tax cuts and empowering governors to suspend fuel taxes during periods of peak price hikes.
They’d better be…
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Unfortunately, these fiscally liberal legislative leaders – and others like them in the S.C. Senate – have been historically subservient to a leftward-lurching uni-party cabal. Smith, in particular, owes his recent electoral victory to essentially buying off the black vote in his district.
Can these politicians really change their stripes?
As I noted this morning on X, Wilson’s affordability agenda – and other fiscally conservative, pro-taxpayer, pro-small business policies – is a chance to do just that. They’d better grab the opportunity with both hands – or face the further electoral consequences of their failure.
South Carolinians will receive their first glimpse of the legislature’s intentions next Thursday (November 12, 2026). That’s when the latest tax study committee – chaired by senator Sean Bennett – gathers to hear public testimony on various proposals.
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???? #2028 #SCStateHouse How will South Carolina lawmakers respond to the clear and unambiguous message voters just sent them? We’ll get our first indication next Thursday (November 12, 2026) at 10:00 a.m. EST when Senator Sean Bennett convenes his latest tax reform subcommittee. Elections have consequences… meaning this process must not devolve into another extended, insider circle jerk with no discernible outcomes. We’ll be there to make sure it doesn’t…
— FITSNews (@fitsnews) November 5, 2026
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Ultimately, this issue transcends partisan calculus. While the Republican majority is very much in the crosshairs, this is about families struggling to pay for food, fuel and clothes – and small businesses struggling to stay afloat while billions of their tax dollars are being blown on unnecessary bureaucracy and corporate welfare handouts.
State leaders can continue subsidizing the status quo… or they can start investing in the individual taxpayers and small businesses that are responsible for the overwhelming majority of job creation in our state.
The choice is simple… and there’s a path to do it, too.
Also, not to put too fine a point on it, but.. size matters.
The time for incrementalism – in our thinking and our policy – is over.
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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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