Casey DeSantis, Tim Scott bring competing stump speeches to Jeff Duncan’s Upstate SC BBQ

A night of country music, Bible verses, praying, making fun of President Joe Biden and campaigning brought voters from across South Carolina to Rep. Jeff Duncan’s 12th annual Barbecue, where Florida Gov. and GOP presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis was supposed to headline the event.

However, DeSantis stayed in Florida as they brace for Tropical Storm Idalia. Instead, his wife Casey spoke about DeSantis’ policies and gave his usual campaign speech for him, while adding her own twist on being a mother and how her husband is the choice for president. Casey DeSantis spoke at the end of the event, after DeSantis’ presidential competitor Sen. Tim Scott gave a 10 minute speech as “just” a senator at the event, despite most of his speech highlighting what he would do as president.

About 2,000 people poured into the Sports and Entertainment Center in Anderson, where attendees came out for all reasons, some to get to know the two GOP candidates better and others to enjoy and support Duncan’s annual gathering. Some expressed disappointment that DeSantis wasn’t there himself, while others called his absence “admirable.”

The tables were lined with red, white and blue tablecloth, mini American flags and “pro-God, pro-gun, pro-life” signs. A live band, New River Blue Grass, played “God Bless the U.S.A” as attendees made their way in. South Carolina GOP Chairman Drew McKissick kicked off the event with speakers and singers who sang the national anthem, did the pledge and said a prayer. Right before introducing Duncan, McKissick had a bit of a fumble with his words and called “Jeff Davis,” up to the stage, a former challenger to McKissick when he ran for party chairman.

Duncan mentioned the fetal heartbeat bill during his speech, where he said “thank God” it was passed.

U.S. Rep. Russel Fry, R-Myrtle Beach, began his speech with “y’all ready to fire Joe Biden next year?” as the crowd cheered. Attorney General Alan Wilson also spoke, as did Ellen Weaver, the state superintendent of education.

While DeSantis was absent, his presence was definitely not.

Hundreds of red “Never Back Down” signs lined the road up to the center. A campaign bus sat outside the venue with a tent selling DeSantis T-shirts and apparel.

Scott, however, had a minimal campaign presence compared to the Florida governor, even though Scott was the only GOP candidate present at the event. He was invited because he is one of the state’s U.S. senators, and spent the day campaigning throughout South Carolina with town hall stops in Charleston, Lexington and Greenville.

Scott gave his usual spiel during his speech about stopping China from interfering with land, education and technology, the southern border, transgender individuals in women’s sports and parental choice in education.

“Our party is a party founded on freedom,” Scott said. “We need a president who stands up for life.”

He also mentioned “abortion on demand,” a controversial memo that Republicans use to describe late-term abortions. Scott also brought up his faith multiple times throughout his speech, repeating a Bible verse in the book of John, and told the crowd “we need to get back to the basics.”

He spoke of his upbringing in a single parent household, his childhood friends being shot or buried, and praised law enforcement for its work to protect communities.

“We need to restore respect and admiration for law enforcement,” Scott said to the crowd. “When you demonize and demoralize the profession, fewer and fewer people want to do it.”

Halfway through his speech, he got off the podium and started walking around the tables to attendees as he spoke about the southern border.

Both Scott and DeSantis’ books were being sold at the back of the event, “America, A Redemption Story” and “The Courage to Be Free.”

Five minutes before the event officially started, videos of Biden tripping, making mistakes or falling asleep played to upbeat music on the screen.

After Scott spoke, Duncan gave out awards and honored different parts of the military and law enforcement. Duncan said he and Ron have a “great friendship,” and described the conversation he had with Ron about not attending the event due to the storm.

“I told him, ‘you need to be right where you are,’” Duncan said.

Before introducing the Florida first lady, Duncan recounted his time with Ron serving in the military and complimented his time on the campaign trail and his time as governor.

Before she came up, a pre-recorded video of Ron played, introducing his wife and thanking Duncan. He also did his usual campaign spiel about securing the border, ending “Bidenomics” and ending the “weaponization of government.”

Casey stepped onto the stage as “This Girl is on Fire” by Alicia Keys played. She brought up her children for a majority of the first part of the speech, making some jokes about their family trip to the first Republican debate.

“If Hunter Biden is making millions of dollars off of his finger paint, why cant we just put our stuff on eBay and see how it goes,” Casey said to the crowd, referencing her children wanting to draw on walls.

Casey DeSantis went on to talk about Biden’s failure as a president, her husband’s journey as governor and how he handled COVID-19. She talked about getting “the swamp” out of Washington, and her husband’s policies on the southern border, parental choice in education, and rejecting the “wokeness” in the military.

“You know when you put Ron DeSantis up in the White House he is going to stand up for your interests and he is never going to back down. We need a president with backbone.”

She repeated some of her husband’s usual campaign spiel about putting Biden “back in his basement” and “ending the weaponization of government.” She also spoke about DeSantis’ upbringing, giving a similar feel to Scott’s usual speech about “making it on your own.”

“I think she probably did better than Ron would have done,” Duncan said after Casey DeSantis spoke.

Lucy Palmer, a retired elementary school teacher from Anderson S.C., came to the event with her husband, a retired Marine, who was part of the flag ceremony.

Palmer said she likes DeSantis because he speaks to what he believes in. She expected Casey DeSantis to have very similar remarks to what DeSantis would have said.

Palmer said she’s undecided for who she would vote for, but was not a fan of former president Trump. DeSantis was her top pick at the moment, because of the way he carried himself and stuck to his beliefs.

“I don’t think he’s quite ready,” Palmer said when asked about Scott. “He’s a nice man and he’s done a good job of Senator, but I don’t think he’s ready.”

She said the same remarks about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Sherry Debruyn, a retired medical assistant who had lived in Anderson for more than 30 years, said it was admirable of DeSantis to stay in Florida, and she was excited to hear from Casey.

“He should be there. For her to give the speech, it’ll be a different flavor from a women’s point of view but she has got to be on board with his policies, and will express them a little differently, but that’s cool,” Debruyn said. “I think it’ll be very neat to hear a women’s perspective on the whole thing and persuading us on why he’s the very best candidate.”

Debruyn said she was undecided as far as who she would vote for, but was leaning more toward Scott because he is a “vocal christian,” but said she could also vote for DeSantis.

“That to me, is the foundation of his policies, which is something I agree with,” she said in response to Scott’s faith. “But DeSantis has also shown he has a heart for the people.”

Despite him being a great candidate, Debruyn said she wished DeSantis had waited till 2028 to run for president.

Carol and Joseph Ball traveled to the event from Senegal. At their table, a new copy of Tim Scott’s book sat next to her purse, with hopes of it possibly being signed by Scott.

Scott was their top choice for a candidate because of his rhetoric on issues and not being as divisive as some of the other candidates.

“I like his ideas about trying to bring the country back together instead of dividing it,” Carol said.

They didn’t expect Casey to be too different from what DeSantis would have said. Carol said Casey was very well-spoken and on point. Joseph said DeSantis is good, but he is a “little bit too far right.”

“If were going to take this, we need someone that’s more centric,” Joseph said. “Some of his actions in Florida are divisive. Not to the extent of Trump, but he does have a little bit of that with him. Tim Scott is more centered and I think he would draw more on the moderates, he might even pull some moderate Democrats better than DeSantis would.”

Both Carol and Joseph said Haley would be an “excellent” vice president, but that she didn’t have the backing and the polling to get to the front and win the election.

Kaye Dina, a retired insurance agent from New York, and her son Johnathan Vizzini, who works in management for a pool company in Connecticut, came to the event together. Vizzini was visiting his mother, who moved to South Carolina a year ago.

They both plan to vote for Trump, and added their minds were pretty made up, but were both curious to hear from the other candidates, specifically DeSantis.