SC House Must Elect a New Speaker to Advance Conservative Values

As South Carolina Republicans, we hold a supermajority in the state legislature. This dominance should enable us to enact a bold conservative agenda reflecting the will of the voters. Yet under Speaker Murrell Smith's leadership, our efforts have been consistently undermined—not just by Democrats, but by decisions made within our own party. It is time for a change in leadership.

Speaker Smith has prioritized backroom deals with Democrats at the expense of advancing key Republican principles. Nowhere is this more evident than in his appointments of Democrats to powerful committees and leadership positions. Despite a Republican supermajority, Democrats have been granted roles that allow them to shape and stall legislation. Speaker Smith has empowered Democrats to chair subcommittees within the Judiciary and Budget Committees. These subcommittees are the gatekeepers of legislation, and their leaders hold significant power to delay or kill bills. The consequence? Conservative initiatives have languished, while Democratic priorities like state-subsidized gambling and hate crimes bills have been allowed to proceed unimpeded.

This is why South Carolina remains one of the few states with open primaries, allowing Democrats to influence Republican nominations. Closing the primaries has been filed every session for two decades, yet Smith has refused to move the bill forward despite overwhelming support amongst Republican voters.

After wasting millions of dollars failing to unseat the most conservative members of their own party, Smith and his cadre of moderates are trying to resurrect their failed Gag rule to silence those same conservatives on the floor of the House. Back in January, they attempted to force a change to House rules that would restrict amendments that don’t have the approval of the majority leader or minority leader. They also tried to eliminate the motion period which would give the Speaker total power over what bills come to the floor. Thankfully, grassroots pressure squelched their attempt in January.

The Gag Rule

Here’s how they will try to spin it: Murrell’s minions have said that when Democrats brought hundreds of amendments to the Heartbeat Bill to try and stall it was very inconvenient and tedious. They’ll say we just can’t waste time on things like that.

But the reality is that on average, we spend less than two hours a day on the House floor. Anyone claiming that they support the Gag rule is either lying or lazy. You send us to Columbia to debate bills which is what we should be doing, rather than cut deals with Democrats for the sake of convenience.

The truth is that this rule is about centralizing power. If only the speaker can control what bills come to the floor and only party leaders can approve amendments on the floor, then all legislative power in the House will reside in just three people. Millions of South Carolina voters will be without a voice if these Gag rules pass.

You can stop them this time, too, by calling your Representative today to tell them to stop the Gag Rule!

As we prepare for the next legislative session, we must elect a Speaker who will prioritize Republican principles, respect the mandate of our voters, stop appointing Democrats to run committees, and deliver on the promises that brought us to office. South Carolina’s future depends on strong, unapologetic conservative leadership. Murrell Smith is not the leader to take us there.

We should choose a Speaker who will use the Republican supermajority to advance the values we were elected to defend—not to empower the opposition.