COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina’s top senator is keeping his powerful leadership post, even though he’s refused to take the job of lieutenant governor if the U.S. Senate confirms Gov. Nikki Haley as United Nations ambassador.
Senators re-elected Hugh Leatherman as the chamber’s president pro tem 36-9 during Tuesday’s postelection organizational session. No senator publicly challenged him.
Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster would replace Haley if she’s confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s U.N. pick.
The state constitution has called for the pro tem to become lieutenant governor.
But Leatherman has no intention of leaving the Senate and giving up his job as South Carolina’s most powerful politician for a largely ceremonial position. And he didn’t want another senator to even temporarily take the pro tem’s role.
Leatherman is also finance chairman.
