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BIG STORY: Dems face tough questions after Pascoe switch
MORE NEWS: S.C. Senate tries again on medical marijuana
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Poor Jake
BRACK: It’s time to right some big wrongs
MYSTERY PHOTO: Waterfall
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By Jack O’Toole, Capitol Bureau | For South Carolina Democrats, 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe’s April 10 announcement that he was switching parties was just another verse in a song they’ve been hearing since 1962 when party-switching Midlands U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence first penned the music. Two years later, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond wrote the lyrics when he switched.
“I am here today because I can no longer in good conscience wear the label of Democrat,” Pascoe told a group of Dorchester County Republicans recently, citing his pro-life, pro-death penalty record as a prosecutor. “I stand here today proudly as a new member of the GOP.”
But despite the tune’s basic familiarity, insiders in both parties told the Charleston City Paper that Pascoe’s defection raises questions that make it more than the same old song. He might, for example, be angling to run for attorney general in 2026, realizing that running as a Democrat would be pretty much a guaranteed losing proposition. Democrats haven’t held a statewide constitutional office in two decades.
So for Republicans, the question is simple: Will their polarized primary voters still welcome a Democratic turncoat at a time when the GOP controls every statewide elected office and enjoys supermajority status in both houses of the state legislature?
But for Democrats, the questions run deeper: Is this finally rock bottom? And if so, how, exactly, can they start turning things around?
‘Lifelong conservative’ or ‘dead man walking’?
With regard to the question for Republicans, many GOP leaders and Democrats agree: Pascoe’s got nowhere to go but down.
“I think it’s going to be a hard sell [in the GOP attorney general race],” said Luke Byers, senior partner at First Tuesday Strategies, one of the state’s leading GOP consulting firms. “Pascoe has a better relationship with Joe Biden than any South Carolina Republican I’ve ever seen … and that’s not going to take him far in a GOP primary.”
Democratic party leaders were even more dubious.
“This isn’t surprising to anyone who knows Pascoe,” former S.C. Democratic Party Chair Trav Robertson said. “It’s nothing more than political expediency by a guy who won’t be in office much longer anyway. He’s a dead man walking.”
But another leading Palmetto State GOP consultant, Push Digital’s Wesley Donehue, who’s now working for Pascoe, says those arguments are just flat wrong.
First, he says, Pascoe is no liberal Democrat — he’s just a conservative who’s finally in the right party.
“David Pascoe is probably the most hard-core conservative prosecutor in South Carolina,” Donehue said. “I mean, just last week, a cop killer was put to death by a firing squad because of David’s prosecution. The guy is just as tough on crime as you can get.”
And as for GOP complaints that Pascoe was a Democrat who endorsed Biden in 2020, Donehue fired back with a historical reminder — and a few choice words of his own.
“Donald Trump was a Democrat who wrote checks to Hillary Clinton,” Donehue said. “And I don’t see the same people talking shit about Donald Trump.”
Tough questions for Democrats
Regardless of what happens to Pascoe, it’s hard these days to overstate the challenges facing Palmetto State Democrats.
Not only do Republicans currently control every constitutional office, Democrats haven’t won a statewide election since 2006. GOP supermajorities in the state legislature are growing, not shrinking. And in last year’s elections, the GOP began winning local races in longtime Democratic strongholds, as S.C. Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick told the City Paper last December.
“[In 2024], we picked up four sheriff’s seats, a probate judge, four clerks of court, three county coroners, one auditor, one solicitor, three county treasurers and 13 county council seats,” McKissick said. “In rural counties around the state, places where Republicans have never won before, we’re winning and have Democrats switching parties.”
But even as Democrats acknowledge the scale of the problem — one party activist called it “a damn disaster” — they also argue that the party’s weakness in statewide elections could be turned around with better candidate recruitment and a clear message on the impact of Trump’s economic policies in South Carolina.
Regarding candidate recruitment, Robertson, the former party chair, is blunt.
“We live in a world now where everybody has a right to run for office, but not everybody has any business doing it,” he said. “As chairman of a party, I can fix a lot of things, but I can’t fix dumbass.”
What’s more, he says, that problem could be addressed by a single strong candidate at the top of the ticket, creating a halo effect for every other Democrat on the ballot.
But just as important, he argues, Democrats need to take the fight to Republicans on the economy — particularly with Trump’s tariffs threatening major S.C. industries.
“When Donald Trump’s national economic advisor [Peter] Navarro says that BMW is bad and detrimental to America, he obviously doesn’t have a damn clue what that means for South Carolina,” Robertson said. “And it’s not just BMW — it’s going to decimate Scout Motors and Boeing and Volvo and Mercedes. It’s going to decimate the port.”
To put that in perspective, he notes, the port at Charleston supports one out of every 10 South Carolina jobs, and exports represent more than 10% of the state’s economic output.
“That’s going to give Democrats a serious opening,” he said.
‘Above all, try something’
Another possible opening Democrats say they’ve spotted? The recent unwillingness of many GOP officials to take unfiltered public questions in traditional in-district town hall meetings.
That’s why South Carolina’s lone Democratic congressman, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, has scheduled town halls in two of his GOP colleagues’ backyards: April 22 in Spartanburg and April 24 in Beaufort. Those districts are represented by Fourth District Republican U.S. Rep. William Timmons and Charleston-area Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, respectively.
It’s also why the state Democratic Party is calling out GOP U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham on social media for what it calls “hiding.”
“You can’t keep hiding behind closed-door Republican events,” the party wrote in response to an April 15 post by Graham on X. “Let us know when you’re ready to face the rest of your constituents.”
Will the issue help Democrats break through? Party insiders say they aren’t sure — but given the circumstances, it’s a place to start.
Or as President Franklin Roosevelt, father of modern Democratic party, famously put it at the height of the Great Depression in 1932:
“It is common sense to take a method and try it,” Roosevelt said. “If it fails, admit it frankly and try another — but above all, try something.”
Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
By Jack O’Toole, Capitol Bureau | Despite perennial high hopes among pot legalization supporters, few expect major changes to the state’s marijuana laws during the legislature’s 2025-26 session.
One possible exception? Medical marijuana, which passed the S.C. Senate last year before dying without a vote in the S.C. House.
Charleston Democratic Sen. Ed Sutton, a co-sponsor of the newly-revived medical marijuana bill, was, well, blunt about the need to act in an April 14 text exchange with the Charleston City Paper.
“The Compassionate Care Act remains a priority for veterans and those suffering from chronic pain,” he wrote. “People are demanding non-addictive alternatives to opioids, and I believe we need to empower patients and physicians with safer, evidence-based options.”
The bill, which primary sponsor Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) has characterized as “the most conservative medical marijuana legislation in the country,” would allow for prescription-only use under strictly controlled circumstances.
For instance, state government would exercise tight, end-to-end oversight of all production and distribution, and pharmacists would only be allowed to dispense the drug in medically-typical forms like tinctures — no smokable flower allowed.
But with only 12 days left in this year’s legislative session, Statehouse observers expect the bill to be pushed into 2026 — when it’s likely to re-emerge from the Senate, but again face long odds in the weed-wacker House.
Still, Sutton sounds optimistic about medical marijuana’s future in the Palmetto State.
“This bill gives us a path forward — one that’s medically regulated, tightly controlled and long overdue in South Carolina,” Sutton said.
In other recent news
S.C. Supreme Court rules trial to remove Loftis can continue. The S.C. Supreme Court has rejected a last-minute bid by state Treasurer Curtis Loftis to stall a Senate-led effort to remove him from office, setting the stage for what is likely to be a contentious Statehouse trial on Easter Monday.
MORE: Loftis goes to GOP faithful as fight over $1.8B error heats up
S.C. hemp industry has seen ups, downs. The number of South Carolina’s licensed hemp farmers has fluctuated widely since a commercialization experiment began in 2018. The number of farmers soared to 265 in the first two years, riding high hopes and big-dollar dreams, but crashed to just 98 in 2024 as hemp prices fell from up to $30 per pound to less than $5.
S.C. House, Senate reach agreement on private school vouchers. Despite Democratic objections, the S.C. House and Senate look ready to move forward with legislation to provide 15,000 Palmetto State families with $7,500 vouchers to cover private school tuition.
More: S.C. lawmakers consider bill to end student ‘grade floors’
S.C. Senate tacks on tort reform to House liquor bill. The state Senate amended the House’s liquor liability bill that the chamber’s Republican leader says puts the chances of tort reform in a better posture to advance.
MORE: Clock is ticking down on S.C. liquor liability legislation
Bill would impose guardrails on S.C.’s license plate reading cameras. A bill advancing in the state Senate would impose regulations on the cameras located across South Carolina known as automatic license plate readers.
New bill to increase penalties for killing S.C. police dogs. Law enforcement officers have seen an uptick in violence toward police dogs, prompting the state Senate to increase the potential fines and prison time for anyone who kills or injures a police dog or horse in the state.
Bipartisan group of S.C. lawmakers and business leaders invite Trump to BMW factory. A bipartisan collection of South Carolina lawmakers and business leaders is inviting President Donald Trump to visit BMW Manufacturing’s Upstate plant after a White House trade advisor criticized the automaker’s business on national TV.
McMaster’s climate change czar survives millionaire opposition, climate change doubts. Gov. Henry McMaster’s choice to lead the S.C. Department of Environmental Services advanced to the Senate floor despite pushback from a multimillionaire donor and a powerful state legislator who intensely questioned her belief in man-made climate change.
Why S.C. lawmakers want to dismiss thousands of pending gun charges. State lawmakers are weighing whether pending criminal gun charges hundreds of South Carolinians face should be dropped.
S.C.’s Limestone University says it’s likely to close due to $30 million debt burden. Founded in 1845, Gaffney’s Limestone University announced yesterday that it will likely have to close its campus at the end of this semester for financial reasons. Officials say they would try to remain open if $6 million could be raised quickly.
Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Credit: Robert Ariail
Award-winning cartoonist Robert Ariail has a special knack for poking a little fun in just the right way. This week, he offers his special kind of commentary on what can happen with a flat tax.
Love this week’s cartoon or hate it? Did he go too far, or not far enough? Send your thoughts to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Credit: Rene Deanda, Unsplash
By Andy Brack | It’s sad to say, but there’s more wrong going on than right these days in the United States. Sadder still is that these national wounds are self-inflicted — by the Trump Administration, a fearful Congress and a judiciary that needs to wake up more.
We’ve faced such turmoil before, most recently with the over-hyped “Red scare” in the early 1950s by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Friends turned on friends. Americans lived in fear that communists were going to take over, thanks to the Republican senator’s bullying tactics to spread allegations that spies and communist sympathizers infiltrated the national government. When he went after the U.S. Army, the Senate convened weeks of hearings that exposed McCarthy as a bully. And the country turned on him, eventually closing a nasty chapter of American politics.
Now we’re living with the same kind of moment. The difference is that one branch of government – the executive – is pillorying everything. What’s happening is not just the work on one man with a bunch of files on people in the Senate. Rather, the full power of the presidency is coming down hard on just about anything not in line with the target of the day.
It’s wrong for the president and executive branch to curtail funding for dozens of vital programs that pay for medical research that can cure diseases.
It’s wrong to cut money for national treasures, such as national parks, libraries, museums and more.
It’s wrong to eliminate departments and agencies without the consent of Congress, which is charged with setting policies and funding them to make government work. A president and executive branch are supposed to ensure that money appropriated by Congress is used correctly, not just turn off the spigot because of a perceived wrong or partisan agenda.
It’s wrong to threaten Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, student loans and other programs that serve masses of Americans and make their daily lives better.
It’s wrong to wage a campaign of retribution on foreign allies who do not deserve explosive tariffs, knowing full well that the turbulence created would sink the stock market and deflate retirement savings of millions of Americans.
It’s wrong to threaten institutions of higher learning with various punishments for not teaching or researching the way that the administration seeks.
And it’s wrong to cultivate fear among immigrants who help to make the country strong and do the kind of work that most long-time Americans no longer want to do. Instead, Trump and company threaten green cards and send people to foreign prisons without the due process of law required in the U.S. Constitution.
Maybe the tide is starting to turn a little, thanks to more than 100 cases filed against the administration.
Just look at the Maryland man sent to prison in El Salvador without due process. A federal appeals court this week blocked an attempt by the administration to try to stop a judge’s order to bring back the man to the United States.
“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” wrote conservative U.S. Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson. “Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
Wilkinson envisioned what could happen if the executive branch continued to disregard court orders and deport people without due process: “What assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home? … And what assurance shall there be that the Executive will not train its broad discretionary powers upon its political enemies? The threat, even if not the actuality, would always be present and the Executive’s obligation to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ would lose its meaning.”
Public service is more than showing up at press conferences and ribbon-cuttings. Sometimes it’s about standing up for what’s right and opposing what’s wrong. It’s time for Congress to stop being fearful and for judges to get Trump to keep in his lane.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Here’s a waterfall in South Carolina. Where is it and what’s its significance? Send your name, hometown and guess to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Our most recent mystery, “Old log building,” shows the Faith Cabin Library. The photo was sent in by reader Rachel Cox, who shared she was concerned about the future of libraries and museums.
Reader Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, shared that the old one-room cabin “was built in 1936 to serve as a public library for African Americans who were barred from using public libraries due to segregation laws.” It was part of a Rosenwald school and operated until 1954.
Longtime sleuth George Graf of Palmyra, Va., added the organization that founded the library was run by a White mill worker from Saluda who went on to graduate from Furman and become a minister. “His organization from the 1930s to 1950s started more than a 100 libraries with more than 200,000 donated books.”
Others who correctly identified the building were David Lupo of Mount Pleasant and Don Clark of Hartsville.
Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We’ve been getting a few good letters and would like to share them, but writers aren’t leaving phone numbers and hometowns to help us verify them for publication. We encourage you to send in your thoughts about policy and politics impacting South Carolina. We print non-defamatory comments, but unless you provide your contact information – name and hometown, plus a phone number used only by us for verification – we can’t publish your thoughts.
Have a comment? Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to provide your contact details (name, hometown and phone number for verification. Letters are limited to 150 words.
Statehouse Report, founded in 2001 as a weekly legislative forecast that informs readers about what is going to happen in South Carolina politics and policy, is provided by email to you at no charge every Friday.
Editor and publisher: Andy Brack, 843.670.3996
Statehouse bureau chief: Jack O’Toole
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“}]] INSIDE Statehouse Report 24.16: State Democrats face tough questions after switch; Medical marijuana on tap again; Wrong and right in Washington. Read More
