In a changing of the guard, Sen. Brad Hutto elected SC Senate Democrats’ new leader
South Carolina’s Senate Democrats have a new leader heading into what will be one of the most consequential four-year terms.
South Carolina Sen. Brad Hutto was elected Tuesday as the next Senate Democratic leader with 13 votes to three votes cast for state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington. Senate Democrats also elected Sen. Ronnie Sabb, of Williamsburg, as the next assistant minority leader, a position previously held by former longtime state Sen. John Matthews.
Hutto, a 63-year-old trial attorney and former Orangeburg County Democratic Party chairman, succeeds Senate Minority Leader Nikki Setzler, of Lexington, who told his colleagues last week that after eight years at the party’s helm he would not to seek reelection to the leadership post. The announcement to colleagues followed what Malloy called Tuesday a “devastating loss” on Nov. 3 for Senate Democrats when Republicans flipped three seats red, growing the party’s membership to 30 and giving Democrats only 16 members in the Senate.
“That is what I pledge to you, is not that I’m going to be the strong leader of this caucus, but I will be a leader of a strong caucus,” Hutto told his colleagues, repeating a phrase from Setzler. “And while we’re fewer in numbers, the issues remain the same, the challenges remain the same. And while they say many hands make light work, we’ve got a few less hands. We’re just going to have to do more work. And I pledge to you to lead you in that hard work that it’s going to take us this year to make sure that our voice is heard as we address pressing, pressing issues that face the people of South Carolina.”
Hutto, first elected to the Senate in 1996, will face a large challenge when the Legislature returns to work in January as he oversees a smaller caucus at a time when Republicans hold the power to pass more conservative legislation, change rules and draw the upper hand during reapportionment.
For instance, with the support of Republican Gov. Henry McMaster — who is up for reelection in 2022 — Republican S.C. House leaders say stricter legislation aimed at curbing abortions in the state will be one of several priorities they plan to tackle in the next year. Two years ago, Hutto was credited in large part for killing an abortion bill after he offered a poison amendment to effectively ban all abortions, a move that surely would have been overturned by the courts.
While he acknowledged not every Democrat or Republican is unified on the issue, it’s unconstitutional, Hutto said.
“That’s one that’s going to be decided in the courts. It’s already up on appeal from other states,” Hutto told The State after the vote Tuesday. “Why we would want to spend weeks and weeks debating that here, knowing we’re just going to get in line for an appeal, to me is a misuse of our time when we could focus on education, health care, jobs. If we have to have that fight, we’ll engage in it.”
As a sitting member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Hutto will become more important to the more than 25-year-old Senate Democratic Caucus. As minority leader, he will help guide Democrats through reapportionment, the process by which lawmakers draw district lines based on the U.S. Census population that, on some level, Democrats and Republicans will have to balance together.
Hutto, described as a likeable, laid-back senator with strong relationships across the aisle, said he sees no reason why that would change.
“We’re not Washington, OK,” Hutto said. “There’s 46 of us. It’s kind of like being in a small high school class. You know everybody, you see them every day. We know each other’s spouses and children. We know a lot about each other because, quite frankly, we see each other all the time. We don’t see everything through a partisan lens.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2020 at 1:56 PM.
