SC Freedom Caucus takes down 2 GOP House leader allies. But sides largely stalemate. (copy) (2024)

COLUMBIA — After the dust settled on dozens of Statehouse primary battles between the GOP majority and the renegade House Freedom Caucus, three GOP majority incumbents — including two veteran leaders close to Speaker Murrell Smith — had been ousted.

Assistant Majority Leader Rep. Jay West, R-Belton, and powerful House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Seneca, were sent packing.

Voters also showed one of the House’s last Republicans with a moderate stance on abortion, Rep. Jerry Carter, R-Clemson, the door.

Meantime, the Freedom Caucus members facing primaries all fought off well-funded mainline opponents to declare victory.

Freedom Caucus Vice Chair state Rep. RJ May called the results “the greatest defeat of the RINO establishment in South Carolina political history,” using the acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“We were targeted for defeat, every one of us, yet every one of us survived, and not only did we survive, most of us crushed our opponents,” May said. “The establishment set out to crush the conservative movement and the Freedom Caucus, and we came out stronger.”

Yet more than a dozen Freedom Caucus challenges to GOP majority incumbents came up well short, and due to retirements and the results of upcoming runoffs June 25, the primaries may only yield the renegade caucus a few more seats. They could very well end up with about the same strength they have now if things don’t go their way.

“I definitely would dispute the idea that there’s any kind of mandate,” said Lexington County Republican state Rep. Micah Caskey, a vocal opponent of the Freedom Caucus. “If anything, it’s a wash. With the lowest turnout we’ve seen in over a decade, I don’t know there’s a whole lot to be learned.”

Most South Carolina House seats are uncompetitive in the general election and the winner of the dominant party’s primary is virtually assured a ticket to Columbia.

But even if the June 11 primaries will not change the balance of power much in the House, they do establish that the Freedom Caucus is not a fringe movement or flash in the pan. A significant chunk of South Carolina Republican voters, especially in the Upstate, likes the combative, culture-wars-infused conservatism the caucus is serving up.

Jonathan Butcher, a 41-year-old writer from the suburbs northwest of Columbia, voted on June 11 for state Rep. Jay Kilmartin, a member of the Freedom Caucus from Columbia, over his mainline challenger.

“He’s for freedom and liberty, unlike some people who claim they’re conservative and hide under the Republican umbrella,” he said.

The Freedom Caucus incumbents beat back serious challengers who, by and large, out-fundraised them in races dominated by attacks and mountains of outside spending. Gov. Henry McMaster took the rare step of endorsing three of the Freedom Caucus’ opponents in the last days of the campaign.

Results showed there’s significant bloc of GOP voters who want nothing to do with the caucus. Instead, said Walter Whetsell, the majority’s chief strategist, the real winner on election night was an old political rule of thumb: incumbents win.

The Freedom Caucus may have scored a symbolic victory “but it’s not the case in reality,” Whetsell said. “Incumbents, largely, fared super well.”

The Freedom Caucus missed most of its targets other than West. In the Upstate, Reps. Neal Collins, R-Easley, and Don Chapman, R-Townville, won comfortable victories over robust Freedom Caucus challenges. In the Lowcountry, Reps. Chris Murphy, R-North Charleston, and Gary Brewer, R-Charleston, romped to victory over their Freedom Caucus-aligned opponents.

Tuesday’s results will change “very little” in the House, said Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens. “I think we protected a large portion of our incumbents that they came after, and I feel very good about that — hated that we lost the three.”

He added that the two candidates who beat Sandifer and Carter — Adam Duncan, a high school wrestling coach, and Phillip Bowers, a former Pickens County GOP chair — have not committed to joining either the Majority Caucus or the Freedom Caucus.

“I wouldn’t be putting them in the strongly committed category,” he said.

Efforts to reach Duncan were unsuccessful. Bowers told The Post and Courier he hasn’t decided what he will do if he beats his Democratic opponent, which is likely in the deep-red district, and said that both sides have reached out.

His race was far less intense than the scorched-earth Freedom Caucus-versus-Majority Caucus battles raging around the state, Bowers said. Though the Majority Caucus supported Carter, the Freedom Caucus didn’t spend anything to help Bowers and wasn’t a major factor in the race, he said.

In the eight open seat primaries, all of them north of Interstate 95, Freedom Caucus-aligned candidates won two outright and Majority Caucus-aligned candidates won three outright. In each case, the caucus controlling the seat did not change.

Three of the open seats went to June 25 runoffs featuring a contest between the two warring camps.

If everything goes their way on June 25 and Duncan and Bowers decide to sign on, the Freedom Caucus could grow its ranks to about 20. If everything goes against them, they could end up about where they are now or down slightly.

Either way, Speaker Smith’s Republican Caucus majority will still dominate the lower chamber, and the Freedom Caucus will still have the numbers it needs to cause him problems from time to time.

The Freedom Caucus’ most clear-cut victory came over West, who lost his primary in rural southern Anderson County by 28 points to Lee Gilreath, a construction company owner who has told The Post and Courier he will join the Freedom Caucus. West outspent Gilreath, and the governor did a campaign swing with him in May.

West was a key ally of the speaker, having spearheaded the work on a host of Smith’s top priorities from workforce legislation last year to the massive energy bill this year. He was also very conservative. He voted to pass permitless carry and ban abortions at conception with limited exceptions.

West’s issue wasn’t necessarily that he didn’t go far enough right, it was his close association with the party establishment, his opponent Gilreath said.

Instead of guns or abortion, Gilreath, who has deep roots in Anderson County, pointed to West’s support for legislation consolidating state health agencies, which Freedom Caucus politicians have said would create a health care “czar” with expansive legal authority.

“I’m in it for my constituents to save our freedom and our rights, which are being taken away at an increasing rate,” Gilreath said.

The bill’s supporters note that the current director of the Department of Health and Environmental Control already has the powers the Freedom Caucus opposes but with less gubernatorial oversight.

West could not be reached for comment.

Bowers, who bested Carter in Pickens County, said he’s been surprised at the intensity of the outreach from both camps since he won.

“The Republican Party is in a real struggle,” he mused.