2 longtime Lexington County senators are gone. What effect will change have on county?

After the announcement that longtime state Sen. Nikki Setzler would be retiring from the state Senate, Lexington County knew there would be institutional loss.

The recent election, however, has made even more of a stark change. And Lexington County residents and officials aren’t sure what it will mean for them and the greater Palmetto State.

The departure of Setzler, D-Lexington, was hard for many legislators, as the 48-year sitting senator’s influence and respect was widespread. His work on education policy, supporters and colleagues say, was crucial to the state’s development over the years.

Setzler announced his retirement in January. In June, Lexington lost another longtime Senator in the runoffs.

Lexington County State Sen. Katrina Shealy’s supporters, family, friends and colleagues were absolutely confident of her re-election. The 12-year sitting Senator had widespread support. There was little doubt.

While Shealy led in the primary, she ultimately lost to her Carlisle Kennedy in the runoff.

Shealy and Setzler made bounds of change in South Carolina for children, women, education and more. While politicos emphasized that while leadership comes and goes, two institutional figures leaving from the same area will have an effect. Although it is more about the long-term effects than the short-term change, they say.

Critical to community betterment

As chairman of the Family and Veterans’ Services Committee in the Senate, Shealy was widely seen as a defender for children. Supporters recalled her work for children in the Department of Juvenile Justice, raising awareness surrounding domestic violence, road funding, community projects and even coming into schools to inspire future generations.

“As an elected official in the town of Lexington, I’ve seen firsthand just how critical her partnership is to our town,” Gavin Smith, Lexington Town Council member said.

Smith said Shealy delivered on a number of issues for Lexington residents, but road improvement is one of the most vital.

“I think it is absolutely imperative that people recognize we talk all day about improving roads in Lexington, Katrina’s position on the Senate Finance Committee is critical because it allows her to advocate directly for investments in our local community, and it’s going to be essential for securing funds. And I can share that she’s a partner that is working with us directly on several major road projects,” Smith said before Shealy’s loss.

Smith warned, “you can kiss road funding goodbye,” if she’s not re-elected.

Smith emphasized how long it took for Shealy to get into a position of power, nearly 10 years. With new leadership, he and others fear it may be another 10 years before that influence is back once again.

Setzler spent eight years as Senate Minority Leader.

“I mean whether it’s supporting law enforcement, first responders, advocating for children and families, delivering for taxpayers, improving infrastructure she’s already delivered when it comes from the widening and paving of Pilot One from Lexington to Batesburg-Leesville. That was Katrina. I mean, of course, she worked with others in the delegation, but, you know, she championed that resurfacing and paving project and widening project,” Smith said.

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said Setzler was in the Senate when Hutto was a pager as a college student. His work and influence will be missed by many, Hutto said.

“He was a true leader. He was very involved in policy, particularly education policy. When he spoke, people listened. He was clearly somebody who was very focused, cared about people, cared about Lexington County a lot. Anything that had to do with Lexington County he was on top of it,” Hutto said.

Hutto said Setzler really got along with everybody, and he was respected across the aisle.

“We’re going to miss him in the Senate, the state’s going to miss him, Lexington County is going to miss him, public education is going to miss him, higher education is going to miss him,” he said.

Lexington County losing two Senators with seniority means the “clout” of Lexington County in the legislature diminishes tremendously, Hutto said. Of course, this happens in every county when a long-serving senator retires, he added.

“There will be a loss of institutional wisdom. When you lose somebody who has served as long as Sen. Setzler, you are losing sort of generational institutional wisdom,” Hutto said. “It’s important to know where we came from to know where were going. Nikki knew the rules, the decorum. He was certainly there to mentor and pass that on, and he won’t be there in the future, so others will have to pick up that role.”

Hazel Livingston, mayor of Lexington, said Shealy has always been helpful for her town. Livingston said any time projects have to do with children, roads, infrastructure and improvement of the community, Shealy was there to advocate and help.

“As a mayor, it would be a great loss to Lexington County for Sen. Katrina Shealy not to go back in office,” Livingston said before the election. “I’m the mayor the largest municipality and I mean, it concerns me a little bit that we would be losing our senior senator. The general voter that I’ve talked to understands the importance of Katrina Shealy and the role that she’s done to help Lexington County.”

Completely different roles; greater impact

The loss of Shealy is totally different than Setzler in a way, Hutto said. Shealy was laser focused on children, he said. She also was a large aspect in leadership among women in the Senate.

Shealy was the only woman when she was elected to the Senate. She leaves as the Senate may revert back to only two or fewer.

“She was fighting hard for anything to do with expanding nutrition for children in the school system, free and reduced lunches ... you can’t name a children’s issue that she and I weren’t working on together,” he said.

Hutto said the Senate and himself are going to miss Shealy. But he doesn’t doubt that she or Setzler are going anywhere.

“She ain’t going anywhere, neither one of them are,” Hutto said. “I would bet you that they will both be involved in public services beyond their roles as Senators.”

Mike Burgess, South Carolina teacher of the year, has been a longtime supporter of Shealy, and brings her into his classroom to inspire his students. His concerns are similar to Smith’s, specifically that Lexington will not have a senator with seniority.

“Elections have consequences. In the case of this election with Sen. Shealy’s defeat, the consequences may not be felt or recognized immediately by her constituents in District 23, by the citizens of South Carolina. But certainly as time passes, her being defeated on quite frankly a very small, a small number of votes when you look at the number of people who voted, are going to have some far reaching ramifications,” Burgess said.

When you look at Shealy and her leadership, what’s essential is invisible, Burgess said. He said the things she did that never make the media is what the county is really losing, more or less her services as a senator to her constituents as a whole.

“She put people first and I’m not sure the new gentleman is going to do that,” Burgess said. “Taken as a whole, that is going to be the earth-shattering consequence, not knowing whether the person on the end of the phone line in her spot now will be willing to take on the issues that concern people that may not have the same means that a lot of people have.”

The senate is built on seniority, he added. Any business related to finances, roads, community improvement and betterment of the community really depends on having a senator that lives in your county with seniority, he said.

“We’ve lost that. I would also say this loss magnifies well outside the bounds of District 23, well outside of Lexington county. Sen. Shealy was, and is, a champion for children and families. She was truly a guardian angel for so many thousands of children in the state,” Burgess said.

Burgess said it’s also about her work on the ground, with the people. He referenced her standing outside of DJJ three years ago with security guards, educators and support personnel over the conditions that the children were placed under and the working conditions.

The state won’t have that, Burgess said. He doesn’t know who will be the one to pick that kind of work up.

“That’s going to have to be a Republican with seniority in order to make anything happen,” Burgess said. “I can’t think of one Republican with seniority that’s ready to step into the breach and protect the children and the families of the state as she has done.”

Burgess said if more people actually cared and gotten out to the polls, Shealy would still be in office.

He said he has received texts and calls from people who didn’t even know about the election, and asking about Shealy.

“We can lose here in Lexington a leader who didn’t even need an award titled ‘Profiles in Courage’ to have demonstrated profiles in courage with only roughly 5% of the people in her district determining her fate,” Burgess said. “Those who had the most to loose quite frankly, sat on their hands.”

Lexington county had nearly 34,263 people show out to vote in the primaries. Only 12,556 ballots were cast in the runoffs.

“I think it’s a microcosm of a larger problem we have now both in Lexington County and South Carolina and the nation where we have people who just don’t know and just don’t care,” Burgess said.

State Rep. Chris Wooten, R-Lexington, said it’s sad that there were so many single issue voters that ultimately ousted someone who has done so much for Lexington, her constituents and her community.

The legislature passed the heartbeat bill, Wooten said, adding that they do not plan to take up abortion again, or anytime soon. They passed what the people of South Carolina asked for.

Shealy, along with two other Republican women, lost their seats from what many suspect as their choice to block a near total abortion ban with limited exceptions.

“If that’s the case, we just, you kind of wasted your vote, and you lost someone that is truly one of the, if not the hardest worker in the legislature,” Wooten said. “I hate that we lose that seniority and that leadership that she provided because there was a false narrative drawn out there that she was not conservative enough or Republican enough or whatever the words are.”

Losing Shealy on finance is definitely going to hurt residents of Lexington and greater South Carolina, Wooten said.

“People don’t realize that, the common life person, or the person working every day does not know how much it takes to not just pass a bill but get money back to your district. And that’s what she was good at,” Wooten said.

When Shealy gave her farewell speech on the Senate floor, she urged her colleagues multiple times to follow the work she had done. She said she didn’t know who would step up and do it, but someone needed to.

“I’m going to find some other way for me to save the world,” she said.

This story was originally published July 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM.