GOP Extends Control of the General Assembly

The much ballyhooed “Red Wave” didn’t materialize nationwide (much to the chagrin of U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy).

But if there was a red wave anywhere, it was in South Carolina. The GOP and House Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter) started November with an 81-43 advantage in the chamber out of 124 members (this is one vote shy of a two-thirds’ majority). The GOP ended the November election with a very large 88-36 majority in the House. There were no changes in the Senate since our state Senate has a full election in 2024 and was not on the ballot in 2022.

A few notes heading into session this week:

• 27 new members joined the House of Representatives.
• There will be five new committee chairs this year.
• Both represent the largest turnover in the House since Republicans took control in 1995.

There is a new Speaker of the House (Speaker Smith, elected at the very end of last session), a new Majority Leader (Rep. Davey Hiott, R-Pickens) and new committee chairs for: Ways & Means, (Rep. Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville), Agriculture & Natural Resources (Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta), Education & Public Works (Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort), and the Judiciary Committee (Rep. Weston Newton, R-Bluffton), and the Medical, Municipal, and Military Affairs Committee (Rep. Sylleste Davis, R-Moncks Corner).

Democrats have hit their lowest numbers in the state House since 1874, when there were no Democrats in the House. The Democrats reached their high-water mark from 1902-1960 when there were no Republicans elected in the House. They did have more than 100 House members until 1982. (Side note: The first Republican elected to the General Assembly in the 20th Century was Charles Boineau, who won a special election in 1961 after serving as director of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce. He was defeated in 1962.)

So, what does this mean for the Chamber?

• The state House will trend much more conservative as a body, especially when we look at several of the primary results in the Upstate where more moderate Republicans were beaten by challenges from the right.
• Speaker Smith has pledged to be an economic development champion, so we’re looking forward to working with him on those projects.
• New chairs of the committees always means change. New leadership means new ways of doing things and new priorities.
• The Democrats in the House will face long odds in pushing legislation since they won’t have enough members to stop cloture votes (votes to end debate) or get in the way of anything.

The Senate will remain more status quo since they won’t see any major changes, so I didn’t address the GOP control of that chamber. We’re looking forward to a great 2023, and please feel free to email me if you have questions about the politics of the Statehouse.