COLUMBIA — Talk about a tough crowd.
A hard-right faction of the South Carolina Republican Party openly sparred with party leadership at its weekend convention over everything from convention rules to the philosophical direction of the party.
The unruly affair was marred by shouting matches between a group of hardliners led by former gubernatorial candidate Harrison Musselwhite — an Upstate truck driver and the self-proclaimed “MAGA” faction’s candidate for national committeeman — and more mainstream members of the party over even the most rudimentary votes on the agenda.
A vote on who would oversee the parliamentary etiquette of the convention was accompanied by loud boos and convention-goers hurling obscenities at the stage. At several points, convention-goers battled over whether the use of red and green cards for voting — which the party has deployed for more than a quarter-century — was a valid method of tabulating votes.
Even calls for unity and order in opening remarks by Lieutenant Gov. Pamela Evette were met by scattered jeers from the crowd.
“Respect is what separates us from the Democrats,” Evette said to boos and laughter from party hardliners in the crowd.
Convention attendees record remarks by state party chairman Drew McKissick at this year's 2024 South Carolina Republican Convention in Columbia on May 4, 2024.
Many of the divisions in the party appear not to come from its political philosophy alone, but how that philosophy is executed.
Prior to doors opening, Musselwhite and former Myrtle Beach-area Congressional candidate Barbara Arthur could be seen outside of the meeting room rallying party members over changes to language in the party platform they argued were diluting the party’s positions on issues like abortion and parental rights. They also argued the language was turning the party “woke.”
Party officials — and documents from opponents to the changes — show the language changes have little actual bearing on the party’s policy positions. Meanwhile, the authors of those changes say modifications were meant to eliminate multiple redundancies and streamline the document to enhance its readability. In some cases, the platform actually included positions on issues that weren’t there before, including opposition to vaccine mandates.
But some critics of the changes said the cleaner language eliminated “specifics” in the phrasing of those policy planks, effectively watering down what they believe. One of those critics, Georgetown County Republican Ken Moran, was removed from the building after attempting to argue with the committee parliamentarian about the validity of the motion before the changes were advanced on a voice vote.
“It’s frustrating,” said Cassandra Amundson, a Charleston County delegation member who opposed the changes. “Because if you’re trying to give due diligence to and bring us all together, you have to follow the rules. You cannot just do it sometimes and then other times, not.”
Harrison Musselwhite speaks to convention-goers ahead of the 2024 South Carolina Republican Convention in Columbia on May 4.
As in previous years, the party convention was their best shot for opponents of leadership to get their jabs in for the year.
For months, party hardliners had been cultivating a list of grievances toward party leadership amid a series of visible power struggles over the party’s platform.
Some nursed discontent over the party’s decision to disqualify congressional candidates like Michael LaPierre who purportedly did not meet residency requirements to run in his district. Greenville County Republicans, led by insurgent state executive committeeman Jeff Davis, still harbors anger over the state party’s decision to take control of their county party convention several years ago.
A small group at the Columbia Convention Center protested a decision to unseat a rogue chairwoman from leadership of the Lexington County Republican Party, Pamela Godwin, in late 2023. Before delegates were seated, security had Godwin removed from the facility, while supporters of hers could be seen outside the facility holding signs opposing current chair, Mark Weber. During voting, one woman could be heard calling him a “fake chairman” before she was threatened with expulsion.
And prior to the start of the agenda, several delegates were disqualified from voting after party leadership found they had attended a $500 per plate fundraiser for presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a transgression allies claim was a “misunderstanding.”
Ultimately, party hardliners left frustrated.
In the first votes of the day, Musselwhite would go on to lose his bid for the position by a 483 to 300 margin to sitting National Committeeman Glenn McCall, while his faction’s national committeewoman candidate, Mount Pleasant Republican and former county chair candidate Cynthia Jones, would lose to sitting committeewoman Cindi Costa 437 to 347.
And unlike previous years, the convention was over well before the advertised end time of 3:30 p.m.
“If you look across the state you see people realizing the need to unite behind people with a proven track record instead of those with just rhetoric,” Stephen Wright, chairman of the Dorchester County Republican Party, said after the vote. “Today’s results demonstrate the fact that Republicans are ready to unite, reelect president Trump and defeat Democrats up and down the ballot.”
