Greenville Patriot Caucus officially launches, endorses Trump for president in GOP primary

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story did not include Greenville County Schools' response to Adam Morgan's allegations of DEI. A response from Burke Royster to Adam Morgan has been added to the story.

Greenville Patriot Caucus held an official launch Monday night at Hughes Main Library by hosting a panel of elected officials.

The conservative group works to encourage residents to become informed and get involved in local politics. The group sends out calls of action like reaching out and contacting local representatives. On Monday, one of the calls to action was to make a plan to vote in the Republican Presidential Primary on Feb. 24.

“At our core, the Greenville Patriot Caucus believes in inspiring the advancement of liberty, the preservation of rights for all, and the complete eradication of tyranny,” Dakota Fitzgerald, chairman of the caucus, said. Other members of the caucus include Tiffany Mauk and Kelly Wood, both co-chairs and Shawn Miller, treasurer.

The caucus also announced an official endorsement of former president Donald Trump to an excited room that erupted into cheers at the announcement.

Panelists included SC Sen. Dwight Loftis, SC Rep. Adam Morgan, Greenville County Councilman Benton Blount, Greenville County School Board member Amanda Brett and GCSO Sherriff Hobart Lewis.

Out of the five panelists, three are up for re-election: Loftis, Morgan and Lewis. Loftis will not be seeking re-election; SC House Rep Jason Elliott has announced his run for that seat. Morgan will be vying for William Timmons’ seat for SC’s 4^th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. Lewis will be seeking re-election as Sheriff.

In the panel, moderated by Charlie James, host of the radio show “The Charlie James Show” on 98.9 WORD, elected officials spoke on topics like the importance of being involved in politics, top issues concerning the officials and the best way to stay informed.

Asked about top concerns, Blount noted that “the immediate concerns that we need to take on this council is to get a group of people together that are willing to actually get our roads fixed, and willing to figure out a way to slow our growth so we're not inundated with traffic.”

Other panelists recommended the importance of being involved. For Brett as a school board member, she notes that coming to board meetings and getting involved with a child’s PTA can be a good start on involvement.

“Start with classrooms, start looking at what your children are learning, read the books that they’re bringing home,” she said.

Adam Morgan reignites DEI debate

During the panel, Morgan mentioned “the weaponization of government” and spoke on a recent event where the South Carolina Freedom Caucus mentioned Greenville County Schools and Superintendent Burke Royster, for “using tax dollars to indoctrinate students and teachers” through a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative, often recognized as “DEI.”

“Just a couple of weeks ago, we were able to call out a superintendent who wants to impose a five-year DEI plan using your tax money that was just raised. The tax money being taken in for schools, they're going to implement a five-year diversity equity inclusion plan into Greenville County Schools,” Morgan said.

Royster sent a response to Morgan on Jan. 31, denying the claims.

"I wish to make it very clear that we neither advance political agendas nor indoctrinate students at Greenville County Schools," Royster said in the response.

"I anticipate that one of your concerns may relate to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Stakeholder Team convened by the District to review key practices and make recommendations to help GCS in its mission to meet the needs of ALL students. This broadly representative group of 37 leaders from businesses, nonprofits, community organizations, parents, GCS leadership, and educators represented every geographic area and reflected the demographic make-up of our District and met monthly from May 2021 through May 2023," Royster said.

In the letter, Royster also defined what the words diversity, equity and inclusion met regarding "specific definitions used in our district's work by the members of our community":

• Diversity is the recognition, understanding, and appreciation of our visible and invisible differences and commonalities.

• Equity is providing access, opportunity, and appropriate support to maximize the potential of each individual.

• Inclusion is the intentional involvement of everyone to create and sustain a community of diverse individuals who are welcomed, valued, and engaged.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville Patriot Caucus officially launches, endorses Donald Trump