Haley, DeMint to host 2016 presidential forum in S.C.

Gov. Nikki Haley and former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint will lead a 2016 Republican presidential candidate forum Sept. 18 in Greenville, The State has learned.

The forum at Bon Secours Wellness Arena likely will attract the top GOP candidates trying to woo S.C. voters before the state’s first-in-the-South primary, the third Republican contest of the 2016 election cycle.

No details were released on which candidates will be invited.

The forum will be held by Heritage Action for America, the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, which DeMint runs.

“Instead of ‘gotcha questions' or the usual political fights, we will discuss solutions on issues that matter to families like education, health care, energy, foreign policy and more,” said DeMint, who held a forum for GOP presidential candidates in Columbia in 2012, when he was still a U.S. senator.

Heritage Action is working to score candidates in the 2016 presidential race this summer on issues — ranging from unions to defense spending to religious freedom — in what it’s calling a Presidential Platform Index.

The GOP candidates also are vying for Haley’s endorsement. The Lexington Republican has not endorsed a 2016 favorite. In 2012, Haley endorsed eventual Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney but he nonetheless lost the S.C. primary.

The forum will not be a debate. The Republican National Committee has worked to restrict the number of debates in the 2016 election cycle to 12 after holding 20 in 2012.

Instead, the candidates are expected to appear on stage one at a time.

“South Carolina voters want to hear from each candidate personally about the most important issues – from health care to jobs and the economy – facing the states and our nation,” Haley said in a statement.

This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 8:01 PM.