Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant hopes to become first SC governor from Upstate since Campbell

Two years into an eight-year tenure as governor, Carroll Campbell visited the BMW manufacturing plant in Munich, Germany — a cold-call meeting that led to three years of negotiations that brought the automaker to Greer.

Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt remembers Campbell “putting some of the communication on a napkin,” as he told Europeans about his state. “It was very South Carolina-esque.”

A year earlier, Campbell’s proactive approach had helped bring Fuji Photo Film to Greenwood.

Campbell’s feats underscore the fact that a favorite son in the governor’s mansion can mean more than civic pride for Upstate counties, said Clemson University political analyst David Woodard.

He points to an era, 1979 through 1995, when Greenville natives Dick Riley and Campbell served back-to-back, eight-year stretches as governor as a stark contrast to recent years.

“The Upstate had a lot of wallop,” Woodard said. “And when you consider that (Greenville’s) David Wilkins was speaker of the House at that time, it’s apparent that the Upstate had a lot of statewide power that it hasn’t had since.”

Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant, an Anderson native, announced Friday that he will join a Republican primary field that includes incumbent Henry McMaster of Columbia, Charleston attorney Catherine Templeton and Kingstree real estate developer Yancey McGill. He will attempt to become the first Anderson County man to win the governor’s seat since Olin Johnston of Honea Path was elected governor in 1935 and again in 1943. Johnston later spent 20 years in the U.S. Senate.

“The governor can get a lot of things done,” Woodard said, noting Campbell’s success in luring BMW to the Upstate and more recent efforts by Lowcountry politicians to recruit the Boeing aircraft plant to Charleston. “The governor can get things done like getting the Port of Charleston to handle bigger boats. A company like Boeing stimulates more spending, so it’s important to an entire region, for many years.”

That pursuit of economic development, and the Upstate’s reputation as a more politically conservative region than the Lowcountry, contributes to what Woodard calls “a definite sectional rivalry” in South Carolina politics.

“I think that makes a Kevin Bryant candidacy an important part of the mix, and gives him a reasonable chance,” Woodard said. “If he goes in as the favorite of the Upstate, and can find some friends in other parts of the state ... Kevin Bryant, young and articulate, might have a good shot.”

Lowcountry voters “are suspicious of conservatives in the Upstate,” Woodard said, while Upstate voters “tend to be concerned about Lowcountry politicians on social issues.

“With what happened in the case of Mark Sanford, I think there’s more of a ‘can’t-trust-those-guys-in-the-Lowcountry’ attitude than before,” Woodard said, referring to Sanford’s widely reported affair during his second term as governor.

Since Campbell’s last victory in 1991, all three Republican governors – David Beasley, Sanford and Nikki Haley – have emerged from the eastern part of the state, if you consider the state splits as the foothills level out just west of Lexington County.

Sam Duncan, pastor at Gethsemane Baptist Church, believes the trust issue that jolted the party during the Sanford tenure will be an asset for Bryant, a deacon at the small, non-denominational Concord Community Church in Anderson.

“I think it would be an awesome thing to have someone in the Governor’s Office who knows and exhibits Christian values,” Duncan said of Bryant. “I think he would represent Anderson very well, not only because of his Christian point of view but because he knows the general workforce. I think he would represent the common working man.”

Bryant has frequently attended the National Day of Prayer, held each May on the Anderson Courthouse Square, an event coordinated by Duncan’s church.

Another prominent Upstate political analyst, Furman professor Brent Nelson, noted that the Upstate also lost political clout when Jim DeMint retired from the Senate in 2012. He said recent changes in the Lowcountry might lessen the impact of the state’s political division.

“When the Upstate had the business sector and the Lowcountry relied on tourism, you had that regional dimension to South Carolina politics,” Nelson said Friday, “but in recent years, a lot of manufacturing has gone to the coast, and that gives both sides of the state a common interest.”

Nelson sees the 2018 gubernatorial election going to the candidate who can raise the most money. And while McMaster and Templeton are the early frontrunners in that department, he sees a potential opening for Bryant.

“He could be the most conservative guy in the race,” Nelson said. “He could make a run, because McMaster and Templeton seem to be fighting for the same people.”

Bryant downplays the regional element. “I don’t want anybody to get the impression that I am going to use this position to benefit my hometown. There are some in power that do that,” Bryant said. “I will treat the whole state fairly.”

“But,” he added with a smile. “It would be pretty cool to have a governor from Anderson.”

This story was originally published August 2, 2017 at 7:33 AM with the headline "Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant hopes to become first SC governor from Upstate since Campbell."