Graham and McMaster not among prominent SC Republicans set to speak at convention
The lineup of speakers scheduled to appear at this week’s Republican National Convention has been revealed. It includes two prominent South Carolina politicians, but two other notable Republican supporters of President Donald Trump from the Palmetto State are nowhere to be found among the speakers.
Both Sen. Tim Scott and Nikki Haley, formerly the governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, are on the lineup of Monday’s speakers.
But Haley’s successor, S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster, and Scott’s colleague in the U.S. Senate, Lindsey Graham, are not scheduled to speak during any of the four nights of the GOP convention.
After a failed bid for the White House, Graham did not attend the RNC in 2016, saying “I can watch it on TV,” The New York Times reported. Since then South Carolina’s senior senator has formed a close bond with Trump, defending the president in several high-profile moments over the past four years.
In spite of a tough reelection battle of his own against Democrat Jaime Harrison, who appeared during the Democratic National Convention, Graham will not be in the national spotlight to support Trump, who has been his frequent golf partner.
McMaster also is not slated to speak at the RNC, even though he was the first statewide elected official in the nation to endorse Trump in 2016. He first became governor in South Carolina when the president nominated Haley to be his administration’s envoy to the U.N.
Although he won’t speak at the convention, McMaster will chair South Carolina’s six-person delegation.
“I think the president will continue to say he wants to keep America strong, he’s demonstrated that,” McMaster previously said, The State reported. “He’s for business and he wants people to make money and be able to keep it and spend it on their families. I think he’s done an excellent job.”
The president made several trips to South Carolina to support McMaster’s 2018 election bid during the Republican primary, including a rally in Columbia to endorse McMaster.
Trump is expected to be in South Carolina again Monday.
Marine One will fly to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in Greer, according to a White House advisory. Further information about his visit was not available, but a public speaking event in the Palmetto State is not currently on the agenda as Trump is slated to appear in Charlotte that night.
Monday is the night Haley is among the speakers scheduled to appear at the RNC.
After serving as U.S. Ambassador for two years, Haley resigned in October 2018. Haley is considered by many as a possible Republican candidate for president in 2024.
Scott is also on the list of speakers for the opening night of the convention.
Scott “speaks with Trump regularly and has many good relationships within the administration, is influential enough to get the president to second-guess a tweet or to support a piece of legislation,” the Washington Post reported. He’s also careful when criticizing the president, but has spoken out on specific issues, according to the newspaper.
Charlotte was scheduled to host the convention, but North Carolina’s social distancing mandates led Trump to move the event, McClatchyDC reported. The president is now expected to deliver his acceptance speech from the White House property on Thursday.
