COLUMBIA, SC (WSPA) – South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick told the Washington Examiner the party may cancel the “First In The South” presidential primary.
The paper reports McKissick told them “We have complete autonomy and flexibility in either direction. Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, we’ll end up doing what’s in the president’s best interest.”
Trump won South Carolina in 2016 on the way to clinching the party nomination.
The party has canceled the election before. In 2004, when then-president George W. Bush sought re-election the party did not hold the event.
The chairman of the South Carolina Democratic party, Trav Richardson, released a statement that said “South Carolina Republicans have themselves a pig in a poke. They’re left with an unpopular President who has a dismal job approval rating, and they’re getting nervous. I can’t see how anyone is surprised by this threat to cancel their 2020 primary election when Republicans have become experts at denying people the right to vote.”
State parties schedule and hold primary elections and they’re paid for by the state. That means, if the GOP decides they do not wish to hold a presidential preference primary the event will not happen.
WSPA reached out to McKissick for comment and is waiting for a response.
