Election skeptics get speaking slots at SC GOP events. Why does the party invite them?
On Saturday night, a Florida man with a gray beard took to the stage at a black-tie optional Republican gathering.
U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, R-Florida, spoke about efforts to rescue Americans overseas and criticisms he had of the federal government.
In 2021, before Mills was elected to Congress, he helped rescue an American family stuck in Afghanistan as the United States withdrew from the country. After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Mills traveled to Israel to help evacuate 255 Americans from the region.
“I realized quickly this administration was going to do nothing to take action,” Mills said Saturday. “You see, we’ve got, whether it’s Walz, Harris or Biden, this pattern of abandonment.”
When Mills was announced as keynote speaker at the 57th Annual Silver Elephant Gala, the S.C. GOP’s largest fundraiser, it was his previous statements that garnered media attention. Mills was an election skeptic in 2020, spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally and was among those who questioned the validity of the President Joe Biden’s victory over former President Donald Trump.
It’s not the first time an election skeptic has spoken at an S.C. GOP event. Trump was the keynote speaker at the 2023 Silver Elephant Gala. In 2021 and 2023, when the S.C. GOP held its First in the South Republican Action Conferences, among the speakers was Cleta Mitchell, a Trump attorney who worked to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump’s own attorney general, Bill Barr, said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
S.C. GOP Chairman Drew McKissick said the party is focused on the future, turning out voters in the November election and a speaker such as Mills can help rally the party faithful.
“You got a great story to tell about national security-related issues and things he’s been involved in,” McKissick said in an interview Saturday. “Cleta Mitchell, in her capacity, is an election expert. She’s fantastic.”
McKissick added Mitchel worked with local organizations and the Republican National Committee in sharing her knowledge.
To Mills’ credit, he touched on the importance of all the elections on the 2024 ballot, not just the presidential race.
“In every single election, I will be the first to say that the most important votes that you will take are the down ballot votes, our state legislators, our mayors, our school boards, our justices, our city council, our commissioners, the people who touch our lives day to day are the ones that we should be looking out for, not just the top three who sits on the ticket,” Mills said.
In a reliably Republican state, where Trump is popular, some conservatives still questioned whether South Carolina’s 2020 results were correct, claiming the former president won by an even bigger margin than the 12-point margin reported by the state election commission.
Although McKissick has defended the work done by the S.C. Election Commission, he has received challenges for his job from those who doubted the 2020 election results.
But he has said he’s willing to work with other conservatives if it means winning at the ballot box.
“(It) doesn’t mean they have to agree all the time, but they know that they need to work together in order to win,” McKissick said. “Those are people I want to work with. If they’re not okay with that program, they can go over there and do what they want and I’m going to go the other way and be productive.”
McKissick has defended measures taken in South Carolina to ensure an accurate vote count on election days. The state requires people to provide photo identification. The state carries out hand audits of select precincts around the state to make sure results match what is being reported.
Results also are audited through independent software that looks at images of ballots cast in elections to make sure they match the vote totals being reported.
Still party insiders says giving election deniers an opportunity to speak at marquis state GOP events isn’t a way to placate certain factions in the party.
“Under Drew’s leadership, the party has focused on being inclusionary and not exclusionary,” said Matt Moore, who served as S.C. GOP chairman from 2013-2017 and now is a managing partner a political consulting firm First Tuesday Strategies.
Having multiple view points in a party is what’s needed to help it be successful, Moore said.
“If the party is robust and strong, the audience can make up its own mind,” Moore said. “When the party self selects for exclusion you get a bunch of nodding heads and the party ends up on the losing side of elections.”
McKissick faced challenges in 2021 and 2023 when he ran for reelection. In 2021, he faced a challenge from pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood, among others. McKissick easily won reelection.
In 2023 after county party takeovers by hardline conservative factions in Lexington and Greenville counties, McKissick faced a tougher challenge for his chairmanship. He ultimately was reelected but with 51.8% of the vote.
“I think Chairman McKissick has a tougher job in some ways than the party chairman before him because he has so many personalities to manage and the personality conflict that defines his role, defines politics across the country,” said Rob Godfrey, a longtime South Carolina GOP strategist who previously worked for the state party.
Jeff Davis, of Greenville County, who has been at odds with McKissick, ran for the S.C. GOP chairmanship in 2023. Davis said he believed unfounded allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Davis wasn’t alone in his views.
The then-Lexington County GOP Chairwoman Pamela Godwin was also an election denier. Godwin, who was elected to her role in April 2023, later faced backlash from within the Lexington County GOP and was eventually ousted.
“I think those factions are having their own fractures and I think a lot of folks are figuring out the fracture doesn’t help anybody. I think there’s a lot of mending going on honestly,” said Chad Connelly who served as party chairman from 2011 to 2013.
Ultimately a political party’s job is to work to get their candidates elected by recruiting candidates and helping turn out the vote.
Those efforts require raising money to spend during campaigns, and events such as the S.C. GOP Silver Elephant Gala and the First in the South Republican Action Conference serve as fundraisers for the party. Attendees have to purchase tickets to help cover costs.
High profile speakers, or those with noteworthy stories, help attract people to events.
Money raised by the party is meant to help with voter turnout efforts such as phone banking, door knocking and text messages, as well as overhead costs such as paying staff and utility bills.
All those efforts cost money and even if some tasks are carried out by volunteers, providing them with bottles of water, doughnuts or pizza aren’t free.
Connelly said McKissick’s choice in speakers is part of an effort to sell tickets for an event to make sure it’s a net gain for the party.
It’s a task which is more difficult at this point in the election calendar.
It’s a presidential election year, and South Carolina, a reliably Republican state, is not expected to be a battleground state.
Media attention on the state has dropped since the presidential primary as South Carolina this year doesn’t have a marquee statewide race outside of the presidential race on the ballot making it difficult to find a speaker, especially in the month of August when people are trying to take off before the final fall election sprint.
“I think Drew will wants to find a speaker people will be interested in,” Connelly said.
This story was originally published August 22, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
