Your SC politics briefing

Welcome to your weekly South Carolina politics briefing, a newsletter curated by The State’s politics and government team.

Today is the last day to vote early in South Carolina’s primary runoffs.

Arguably the most consequential race on the ballot is the Republican superintendent of education between Ellen Weaver and Kathy Maness. If you’re voting on the Democratic ballot, you’ll decide whether Rep. Krystle Matthews or Catherine Fleming Bruce will take on US Sen. Tim Scott in November.

Also today, this morning we’re readying to see whether the US Supreme Court finally releases its opinion on abortion rights.

The big question is whether the court upholds the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban, or completely strikes the 1973 landmark case of Roe v. Wade, and sends the decision back to the states.

We do, however, have a sense of what state lawmakers will do if Roe is overruled.

The House has already created a committee to respond to the ruling, run by one of the chamber’s most conservative members. Senate leaders say they’ll likely do the same.

But both chambers don’t seem to agree on their timeline for passing such a response, and they don’t seem to agree on just how restrictive they want to be. The House panel created by Speaker Murrell Smith is likely to look at passing a very restrictive bill that could wipe out exemptions. Senate leaders don’t appear to want to go that far.

Read more here.

Gov. McMaster sends lawmakers his vetoes

Gov. Henry McMaster has vetoed more than $52 million in earmarks and one-time appropriations from a state budget passed last week by the Republican-controlled Legislature, but said overall he viewed the spending plan as a major success.

The $13.8 billion spending plan lawmakers agreed to last week includes a $1 billion tax rebate on top of a tax cut that reduces the state’s top income tax rate and collapses several tax brackets to create a two-tiered system.

McMaster vetoed only 32 earmarks worth about $52 million dollars this year, a significant decrease from the 225 earmarks worth more than $150 million he axed last year.

Outside of a $25 million supercomputer, which was requested by Sen. Dick Harpootlian, the largest earmarks McMaster vetoed were for a $7 million cultural welcome center in Orangeburg, $5 million for Socastee Park in Myrtle Beach, $3 million for “regional education centers” and $2 million for the West Orangeburg Community Center.

The Legislature is back in town June 28 to override vetoes.

Buzz Bites

▪ The South Carolina Republican Party’s executive committee has denied four primary protests for failure to present sufficient evidence that would have changed the outcome. The races included the governor’s race, the state attorney general’s race and two House races.

▪ A 53-year-old Columbia nurse pleaded guilty in federal court to lying to federal agents about whether she had produced phony COVID-19 vaccination cards for non-vaccinated people.

▪ House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn told the Wall Street Journal that he’d endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president in 2024 should President Joe Biden declined to seek a second term.

▪ US Sen. Tim Scott has endorsed Republican Ellen Weaver for superintendent of education.

▪ The US Senate passed a bipartisan gun safety bill in response to the Ulvalde, Texas, school shooting. South Carolina’s Sen. Lindsey Graham was one of 15 Republicans to support the bill.

▪ Flags were flown at half staff at city buildings in Hardeeville in honor of Councilman David Spisso, who died Monday, the Island Packet reported.

▪ After Richland 1 school board member Beatrice King recently announced she wouldn’t seek reelection for the board’s District 3 seat this year, it didn’t take long for someone to declare their intention to fill her spot.

▪ The FBI has launched an investigation into the Williamsburg County clerk of court who gave herself a $30,000 raise using federal dollars, the Post and Courier reported.

▪ The now-former superintendent of the Lexington 2 school district encouraged the state Education Department to get more involved in a high school flagged for grading problems, expressing skepticism that his office could change the situation shortly before he quit his job.

▪ An Anderson County man has agreed to plead guilty to charges connected to the Jan. 6 storming of the US Capitol, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in Washington.

▪ South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for governor said on national television Thursday that he would tell President Joe Biden, if asked, to “step aside” in 2024 to let someone younger run so as to let a “new generation” emerge.

Mark your calendar

June 28

SC runoff elections

SC House, Senate back in session to take up Gov. McMaster’s vetoes

July 1

New state fiscal year, budget starts

Nov. 8

SC’s general election

Before we adjourn

After roughly two decades of fruitless deliberation over voucher programs, South Carolina lawmakers appeared finally to be on the verge of expanding school choice this year.

The House and Senate, energized by a wave of frustration over pandemic-era education policies, passed companion bills to establish a scholarship fund that select parents could tap for their children’s educational expenses, including private school tuition.

Republican lawmakers were in broad agreement that low-income children whose needs were not being met by public schools should be afforded their choice of private education options on the public dime. It was just a matter of deciding how best to smooth out the differences between the House and Senate plans to accomplish that.

But the bill failed for the year. So, what happened?

“The reason I’m here now is about testing. It’s about accountability,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said last week on the Senate floor. “The reason I may be up here when it’s dark outside is because of testing and accountability. That, to me, was a deal breaker.”

Read Zak Koeske’s reporting here on the debate and what’s next.

This week it was Maayan Schechter (My-yahn Schek-ter), senior editor of the The State’s politics and state government team.

You can keep up with her on Twitter and send her tips on Twitter at @MaayanSchechter or by email mschechter@thestate.com. To stay on top of South Carolina politics and election news, you can chat with us on Facebook, email us tips and follow our stories at scpolitics.com.