SC GOP announces Myrtle Beach conference to attract 2024 Republican hopefuls
The South Carolina Republican Party will launch a new conference-style event in Myrtle Beach this fall, solidifying the Palmetto State as a regular host for GOP presidential hopefuls looking to test the waters in the first-in-the-South primary state.
On Wednesday, the party announced its inaugural First in the South Republican Action Conference in Myrtle Beach Oct. 29-31.
A release said the South Carolina GOP plans to hold the conference — in a similar style to the Conservative Political Action Conference — every other year for presidential hopefuls, party leaders and elected officials to get “introduced” to South Carolina.
“South Carolina’s first-in-the-South position is not something we take lightly. It’s important to us and important to our voters,” Drew McKissick, party chairman, said in a statement. “We’re looking forward to hosting this conference, getting folks excited and prepared for the upcoming election cycles, and reminding everyone you can’t make it to the White House without stopping in South Carolina.”
McKissick said the conference will feature speakers and sessions to, for example, train young volunteers looking to get involved in the party’s 2022 midterm program. Conference panels will cover issues on election integrity, rule of law, women in politics and minority outreach, the party said.
Republican party leaders hope to use the conference to boost excitement around the 2022 midterms, but particularly use the three-day event to kick off the 2024 presidential election.
South Carolina will be pivotal in deciding the Republican nominee.
Though former President Donald Trump has not said whether he plans to run again, governors, members of Congress and at least two South Carolinians may be interested in the job.
Former Gov. Nikki Haley, who served in Trump’s administration as the ambassador to the United Nations, has since hit the speaking circuit, launched a political action committee and bounced between early-voting states. In April, she told reporters she would support Trump’s reelection should he decide to run again in 2024.
“I would not run if President Trump ran,” Haley said. “And I would talk to him about it. That’s something that we’ll have a conversation about at some point if that decision is something that has to be made. I had a great working relationship with him. I appreciated the way he let me do my job.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Tim Scott is focused on his 2022 reelection campaign, his last.
But the North Charleston Republican is rumored to be looking ahead to 2024 and has used his rising name ID to stump in early-voting states, including New Hampshire for a Republican fundraiser in October.
Outside Republicans have already started practicing their stump speeches in South Carolina.
Former Vice President Mike Pence addressed conservatives in Columbia back in March, and Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at the South Carolina Republican Party’s annual Silver Elephant Dinner in July.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will headline U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan’s Faith & Freedom BBQ Monday, an annual fundraiser hosted by the Laurens County Republican.
The State’s politics editor Maayan Schechter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 3:37 PM.
