SC’s House Minority Leader Rutherford reelected as Democratic leader despite a challenger
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford was reelected to another term as the House Democratic Caucus leader, but he had a challenge from a younger member.
State Rep. Kambrell Garvin, D-Richland, lost his bid to lead the 36-member caucus, which is in the superminority.
Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat, was reelected in a 19-13 vote that took place behind closed doors Tuesday morning.
Garvin however said he wanted the caucus to look at its approach and whether it can escape from being a superminority in the chamber.
“How do we gain some more relevancy in this body, which is going to be really important in years ahead,” Garvin said.
Garvin said his move wasn’t about Rutherford and more about giving caucus members an opportunity to have another perspective at the helm.
“We’ve got to be able to compete in rural communities,” Garvin said. “We just can’t be the party of the big cities, sure, and so until we start really digging down into our strategy, into how do we win more seats? So we’re going to continue to languish in the superminority status.”
Democrats remained at 36 seats in the state House after the November elections, but were unable to retake four seats they had lost in the 2022 election.
Rutherford defended his efforts leading the caucus, which some members only see as a spokesperson.
“I believe that my leadership and the caucus is proceeding the way that we should, despite the headwinds in South Carolina,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford said he held no ill will toward Garvin for the challenge.
“In South Carolina, those who have been here for a long time typically enjoy the status that comes with tenure, with seniority,” Rutherford said. “And if you’re up and coming, you need to try and break into that. And I think that’s what Kambrell (Garvin) did.”
Rutherford was challenged four years ago by the state Rep. Wendy Brawley, D-Richland. Rutherford won reelection in a 22-18 vote. Brawley was then redistricted into a seat with state Rep. Jermaine Johnson, D-Richland. Johnson won the primary election in 2022.
A speaker challenge
House Speaker Murrell Smith was reelected in a 102-17 vote.
In a sign of an emboldened Freedom Caucus to continue to make noise, the hard-line conservative members pushed for their own speaker of the House during Tuesday’s reorganization session.
The Freedom Caucus nominated state Rep. Bill Chumley, R-Spartanburg, to be the House Speaker. He only received 17 votes.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Jordan Pace, R-Berkeley, said during his speech nominating Chumley that Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers. Pace used the nominating speech to call for the elimination of the income tax, keep Democrats from chairing subcommittees and other conservative policies.
“We needed conservative leadership, bold leadership, not malicious, willing to work with everybody, willing to be fair, but to move the needle,” Pace said.
Smith was easily reelected to run chamber with bipartisan support.
In his remarks, Smith referenced the dysfunction that has occurred within the chamber in recent years, especially as the Freedom Caucus has done battle with the House GOP Caucus. Smith called for civility within the chamber.
“It is our duty to show the people of South Carolina that their government works for them — that we can disagree without being disagreeable, and that collaboration, not division, is the foundation of our success,” Smith said.
Democrats did not put up their own candidate for speaker.
“This is not Washington, and we don’t intend for it to be,” Rutherford said. “I think we put up the person who we believe is best for the job. And right now we’re looking at a chamber which is two-thirds Republican. It wouldn’t make sense for the Democrats to have put up a candidate.”
Rutherford said Democrats can work with Smith.
“If we have a problem, we go to the speaker. He listens and he tries to solve the problem, and so that’s why we all support him,” Rutherford said.
