As the debate continues over the state of the Republican Party in South Carolina, I would like to share my outlook on life from watching it grow from an indescribable organization to Republican majorities previously unimaginable throughout the state government.
My mother, Wray Wilson, was part of a small group of brave young women who sold mimeographed “Eisenhower Dollars” on King Street to help finance Dwight Eisenhower’s 1952 campaign. General Eisenhower was the first Republican candidate to campaign in South Carolina in the 20th century. He lost, but still reversed a story, as just 16 years before the Republican presidential candidate received 1.4% of the vote in South Carolina – the lowest percentage ever in the United States of two parties.
This “freedom dollar”, a new addition to the pro-Dwight Eisenhower campaign, was sold in Charleston during the 1952 presidential race. It makes no mention that Eisenhower was running as a Republican; the party was highly unpopular in South Carolina at the time. Joe Wilson / Provided
In 1952, the Republican Party’s effort was identified as “South Carolina for Eisenhower”, so as not to use the then offensive word “Republican”.
This persisted until at least 1960, when I accompanied my mother as a Charleston high school Republican for adolescence at the Coastal Carolina Fair. When we asked where the Republican stand was, we were told with joy that “that kind of person” was not welcome, but there was a “SC Independents for Nixon-Lodge” stand.
The first Republican elected to the General Assembly was Charlie Boineau, my cousin, elected “by chance” in a special election in Richland County in 1961. I was present at the Statehouse for his oath when we were coldly welcomed as a temporary phenomenon.
A courageous young legislator, State Representative Floyd Spence of Lexington, was the first Democrat to move to the Republican Party in 1962. He contacted US Senator Strom Thurmond to discuss this decision, telling him that he found out on the Naval Reserve’s duty that he agreed more with the Republicans of the North than with the Democrats of the South. Senator Thurmond told Spence that he was right, but he acted too soon. Spence did indeed lose his candidacy for Congress later that year. Two years later, however, Senator Thurmond changed and, for the first time, the word “republican” could be used in good companies.
In 1963, I was on a bus with the first SC Republicans to participate in the National Draft Goldwater Rally on the 4th of July at the DC National Guard Armory. It was my first visit to the Capitol. Goldwater’s 1964 state victory established a Republican presence in our state, with all Republican presidential candidates winning, except in 1976.
The first Republican candidates in our state’s modern era competed in the 1950s in Aiken County races. The Savannah River site attracted thousands of new workers from the Midwest and Northeast, and many were Republicans.
Dr. Jim Edwards, of Mount Pleasant, became the first Republican governor in 1974. Since 2010, all constitutional holders across the state are Republicans. The election of Governor Nikki Haley, after the election of Bobby Jindal in Louisiana, made her the second Indo-American governor in America. Ambassador Haley was also South Carolina’s first governor.
In 1994, Republicans won the first southern legislative majority in the SC State Chamber and elected David Wilkins as mayor. All southern states eventually followed suit. Last year, two more seats in the Chamber of SC were changed to give Republicans a super-majority of 81-43.
I was elected to the state Senate in 1984 in Lexington County after successfully suing the Senate to establish single-member districts. We were ecstatic to have six Republicans and 40 Democrats. The Republican majority was reached in 2001, and last November, the Senate won three more Republican seats by 30-16.
At the federal level, all members of Congress in South Carolina are Republicans, except one. The six-to-one Republican majority in the House includes Nancy Mace, the first Republican woman elected to Congress by our state. She joins Senator Tim Scott, the first African-American elected from the south to the United States Senate. Clearly, the party has its doors open.
I am grateful to have experienced Republican success, to serve as its first youth vice president in 1974, state senator 1984-2001, and in Congress since 2001. Of course, we have a historically proven open party, welcoming those who value conservatism dominant, limited government and expanded liberties.
US Representative Joe Wilson represents the 2nd congressional district of South Carolina.