Trump or Obama? SC lawmakers to argue over who the namesake of SC road should be
South Carolina lawmakers are considering dueling resolutions over who should be the namesake an Upstate interchange: President Donald Trump or former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.
The resolutions, which were introduced within five days of each other, are up for debate Thursday during a meeting of the state House’s Invitations and Memorial Resolution’s committee, which is chaired by Richland County Rep. Jimmy Bales.
Last month, Republican state Reps. Stewart Jones, of Laurens, and Jonathon Hill, of Anderson, proposed a resolution to name the interchange between Interstate 85 and Highway 385 in Greenville the “President Donald J. Trump Interchange.”
The resolution applauds Trump for his efforts to “defeat the radical left.” It also says that Trump “has the full support of countless South Carolinians and deserves to be honored.”
Trump handily won South Carolina in 2016.
Hill has mentioned the proposal to rename the interchange on campaign fundraising appeals.
But, in the past, Hill has spoke against naming state landmarks for living people. After former S.C. Department of Transportation official John Hardee — the former namesake of the John Hardee Expressway — was convicted on prostitution charges, Hill made a post on Facebook in support of ending the practice.
“Oh, it is so about time for this,” Hill posted last August. “The sad thing is that it took an embarrassing situation like this to make lawmakers go, ‘Gee, maybe we shouldn’t go around naming stuff after each other before they’re dead.’”
Lawmakers are currently considering bills in the House and Senate that would ban naming public buildings and property after people until five years after they have died.
Hill said if he got a chance to vote on that legislation, he would vote in favor of it. But until it’s illegal to name roads after living figures, he said he stands behind the process.
“As long as we have that practice ... we have the right to name an interchange after the current president,” Hill said.
Several days after Hill and Jones introduced their proposal, two Democratic lawmakers filed a resolution to name the same interchange the “President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama Interchange.” The resolution mentioned Obama’s accomplishments, including winning the Nobel Prize, ending the Iraq war, signing the Iran Nuclear Deal and championing the Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
About 22,000 cars travel across the interchange every day, according to the S.C. Department of Transportation.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 2:10 PM.
