Horry County GOP’s chairman un-resigned. It’s too late, SC Republican Party says.

Horry County GOP chairman Roger Slagle will no longer lead the organization after Sept. 30 despite pulling back his previously announced resignation at a fiery Monday meeting.

Emails provided to The Sun News by the S.C. GOP show Hope Walker, its executive director, received and logged letters of resignation from Slagle, vice-chairman Jeremy Halpin, treasurer Angela King, secretary Barbrara Treacy and state executive committee member Tracy Diaz on Sept. 15.

They all announced Sept. 12 that they’d leave office at month’s end.

“Whenever there is a resignation or vacancy in the middle of a term, the county executive committee votes to fill the vacancies for the countywide offices,” S.C. GOP spokeswoman Claire Brady told The Sun News. “The county executive committee will have to vote to elect new county party offices.”

Slagle is eligible to offer himself as a candidate for the open chairmanship.

His change of heart — announced Sept. 26 at an Horry County GOP executive committee meeting where new leaders were to be elected — surprised those in attendance, simultaneously drawing cheers and boos.

Slagle and his leadership team were elected 18 months ago, but their terms have been plagued by infighting and several scuffles with S.C. GOP chairman Drew McKissick — including censuring him in June 2021 following comments he made the previous week about the Greenville Republicans.

A lengthy statement offered by the outgoing leaders a day after their resignation announcements accuses the state party of organizing events inside Horry County without consulting the local GOP group.

Days before Slagle’s resignation, the “GOP Victory Office” hosted a campaign kickoff for U.S. Sen. Tim Scott out of a downtown Myrtle Beach venue unaffiliated with Horry County’s group.

Horry County leaders also blamed attacks by “establishment factions,” The Lincoln Party — a political action committee formed in late 2019 to prevent Trump’s re-election — and “never Trumper” elements within the local party at halting initiatives by Slagle and other senior officials.

No date has yet been set for a special election of new leaders, according to the Horry County GOP website.