Fractured Horry County GOP actions make local party look like an outlier
A lawsuit accusing Horry County Republican Party leaders of defamation is the latest of unusual, even bizarre, developments in an ongoing, unprecedented power struggle in the Horry GOP.
The suit by Matthew McDaniel of Clemson follows a close vote by the executive committee on July 12 to censure Republican state party chairman Drew McKissick. The split decision to censure highlights the extent of the fracture in the local party.
An interesting twist in the McDaniel legal action is Columbia attorney Tucker Player’s offer to Horry GOP leaders to drop the lawsuit if they resign their party positions. The current leaders, elected in a rocky process, are Chairman Roger Slagle, Vice Chairman Jeremy Halpin and State Executive Committeewoman Tracy “Beanz” Diaz.
Player’s letter also demands that Slagle, Halpin, Diaz and activist Chad Caton retract a statement about McDaniel posted on the Horry GOP website. The lawsuit, filed in Horry County Common Pleas Court, is related to a Republican event in Greenville in June.
‘FORMER REPUBLICAN’
McDaniel says he was a lifelong Republican, until Trump’s candidacy in 2016 when he voted for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. McDaniel says he voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 and is more of an Independent now.
McDaniel may represent the views of many more “Republicans” than some party leaders like to imagine; however, others told The Sun News that Slagle, Halpin and Diaz should work to resolve the lawsuit. Shannon Grady, a member of the executive committee, said she wants to heal the fractures and would like the three to resign.
The split executive committee vote to censure McKissick “is an embarrassment. We have a midterm election coming up but so far we’re been bogged down in this.” Gerri McDaniels, formerly the state executive committee representative and still on the Horry executive committee, expressed disappointment in the infighting and the harm it is doing.
‘A BIG DEAL’
Horry party treasurer Eric Santorelli resigned the position and as chairman of the Bylaws Committee, although his reasons are not clear. Some think Santorelli resigned because of the lawsuit, although Diaz said that was not the reason. “This is going to be a big deal, McDaniels said. “I doubt [he wants] to be involved especially when there are attorneys involved.”
“It looks like everyone is scrambling,” is how retired FBI agent Jim Furry viewed the Santorelli resignation. In the Horry party reorganization, Furry sought the party position won by Diaz.
At the center of the Horry GOP problems is former President Donald Trump, including his outrageous claims about the 2020 election. The Horry GOP is solidly pro-Trump, but there are differences about the necessary degree of loyalty. Outside party organizations, many normally Republican voters – such as Matthew McDaniel ‑ definitely do not support Trump.
RICE CHALLENGERS
The Horry GOP joined others in the 7th Congressional District in censuring U.S. Rep. Tom Rice of Myrtle Beach because of his vote of conscience to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Ballotpedia.org lists ten potential Republican challengers to Rice’s nomination in the 2022 primary next June, including Ken Richardson, chairman of the Horry board of education and Mark McBride, a former Myrtle Beach mayor.
All those names won’t necessarily be on the ballot ‑ filing is eight months down the road – but Rice likely will have a primary battle. Rice has a solidly conservative, pro-Trump, record in Congress, just as one would expect from a red, red state U.S. representative.
Go figure. That’s the way Republicans are rolling – and roiling – in the countdown to their June ’22 primary.