2 ex-Trump officials to speak at SC GOP Myrtle Beach event for 2024 presidential hopefuls

Two former Trump administration officials are among the first names set to highlight a three-day South Carolina GOP conference in Myrtle Beach meant to attract interested 2024 presidential candidates and politicos.

The South Carolina Republican Party Tuesday announced former Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have confirmed they will attend the October conference.

Also scheduled to speak is election law attorney Cleta Mitchell who worked on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. She is now helping coordinate Republican efforts to tighten voting laws around the country, according to the Associated Press.

Additional speakers are expected to be announced in the future.

The party’s First in the South Republican Action Conference is planned for Oct. 29-31 in Myrtle Beach, part of Horry County which has become a conservative stronghold in South Carolina. The conference poses an opportunity for potential presidential candidates to come and test their message in front of primary voters in the early-voting state.

“It gives them the opportunity to meet with grassroots activists and party leaders from South Carolina,” said Party Chairman Drew McKissick. “Having the ability to meet with our activists early and build relationships and having the activists get a good look at potential national leaders, it gives them a leg up on any potential future bid.”

McKissick’s plan is to make the conference in the style of the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservative political activists, elected officials and pundits which includes training sessions and speeches by conservative leaders. South Carolina conference organizers plan to feature speakers and also offer sessions to train young volunteers looking to get involved in the party’s 2022 midterm program.

Scott, the former governor of Florida, is the chairman of National Republican Senate Committee tasked with electing Republicans. When Scott, a former hospital network CEO, was first elected governor of Florida in 2010, he spent $75 million of his own money on the campaign. When he ran for the Senate in 2018, he spent $64 million out of his own wallet.

Perry, who previously served as governor of Texas, ran for president in the 2012 and 2016 cycles. Priebus also previously served as head of the Republican National Committee.

“A lot of these folks right now are looking at what President Trump might do,” McKissick said. “In the meantime they’re all focusing on being helpful for 2022 raising money, supporting the ticket (and) supporting candidates around the country in hopes of taking back the House and taking back the Senate.”

Potential Republican presidential candidates have already made their way to South Carolina this year, an important stop on the presidential trail because of the state’s first-in-the-South voting status.

In August, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem spoke at U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan’s Faith and Freedom BBQ in Anderson, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the keynote speaker at the state Republican Party’s annual Silver Elephant Dinner in July. In April, former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the Palmetto Family Council gala, his first speech since leaving the White House.

McKissick said the state party has been in touch with representatives from the Trump organization, Pompeo, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik about possibly attending conference.