CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – With the primaries about five weeks away, the Horry County Republican Party hosted more than a dozen candidates at a rally Monday evening.
Four Republican candidates for governor and Gov. Henry McMaster’s pick for lieutenant governor visited the Horry County GOP’s annual “Rally at the River.”
Some candidates say they want to stop the state from spending too much.
“We don’t have people in Columbia that are cutting government, that are cutting spending, that are cutting through all the red tape and the corruption,” said Republican gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton.
Others want to reform the state’s department of transportation and support building Interstate 73.
“The DOT needs to be a cabinet agency under the governor, so the folks know who to hold accountable,” said Lt. Gov. Kevin Bryant, R-SC, who’s running for governor. “There’s too much legislature involvement.”
“We need to do away with the DOT commission, the state infrastructure bank, save money so that we can spend more money on roads,” said Republican gubernatorial candidate John Warren.
Former lieutenant governor Yancey McGill says he wants to focus on job creation.
“We cannot lose sight that it is about economic development,” said McGill, who’s now running for governor. “Tourism has done very well.”
Governor McMaster’s running mate Pamela Evette says protecting customers from rising electrical bills remains important.
“The governor has taken that, first and foremost, to protect the rate payers, which I am a rate payer in this part of the state because I have a second home down here,” Evette said.
In the race for Horry County Council chair, incumbent Mark Lazarus and Republican challenger Johnny Gardner say they’re focused on improving public safety.
“Homes are building, housing developments are piling up all over the place,” Gardner said. “My question is: who’s going to make the homeowners safe?”
“We need more police and firefighters,” Lazarus said. “We got find a way to do that and balance it without putting it on the backs of the public.”
The primary is on Tuesday, June 12, but the deadline to register is Friday, May 11.
The Horry County GOP also conducted a candidate straw poll Monday night.
You can find a list of the results here on the Horry County GOP’s Facebook group page.