Tea Party Shrinking Among S.C. GOP

Only about one in eight S.C. Republicans consider themselves members of the Tea Party today, down from about one in three in 2010, according to the Winthrop Poll. A majority of S.C. Republicans still say they agree with the Tea Party’s principles, but support for those principles is down too.

A West Columbia real estate agent says he wants God in government. A Columbia Army veteran says she always votes for a strong military. And an African-American businessman says he likes the GOP’s ideas for improving education.

A Ridgeway Tea Party activist says he wants a senator who will vote his convictions, not make deals. Meanwhile, a young Republican from Anderson – pro-life and pro-gun rights – says she is glad her college peers are willing to question U.S. military conflicts and whether the government should dictate who gets to marry.

Those five Republicans are among the diverse voices who will pick the U.S. Senate candidate that they think best reflects their values in the June 10 primary for the seat now held by two-term incumbent Lindsey Graham.

Graham, of Seneca, faces six Republican challengers in his bid to win a third term: Columbia pastor Det Bowers, state Sen. Lee Bright of Spartanburg, Easley businessman Richard Cash, Orangeburg attorney Bill Connor, Columbia attorney Benjamin Dunn, and Charleston public relations executive Nancy Mace.

The contest mirrors a national narrative about a war being waged for control of the GOP between deep-pocketed incumbents, derisively referred to as the “establishment” by their opponents, and Tea Party challengers, who tout their “true conservative” credentials.

In South Carolina, that battle pits those who have been shaping the state’s dominant party for years against those who could shape its future.

Mainstream Republicans are more “center right,” according to one longtime GOP leader. The divisive challenge to Graham comes from a “vocal minority” within the GOP, intent on pushing the party further right and, potentially, “off the deep end,” he adds.

But, even if Graham wins his party’s nomination next month, the GOP’s Tea Party wing – with its “Taxed Enough Already” philosophy – has succeeded in one way, said Scott Buchanan, a Citadel political science professor.

“The Tea Party has forced Republicans and, to some degree, Lindsey Graham to take issue positions that are more to the right.”

Tacking ‘center-right’

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