‘S.C. is booming.’ McMaster touts jobs, Marines, elections input in Hilton Head visit

Gov. Henry McMaster made a campaign stop Saturday at Hilton Head Island where he drew a crowd of more than 160 supporters and credited the host of the event, an Indigo Run resident, with helping to get election reform passed.

In her introduction of McMaster, Xiaodan Li of Friends of Liberty, which invited McMaster to speak, called McMaster a true conservative who opened up schools and fought mandates during the pandemic and worked with the group on election reform. The island-based group, which Li founded, is supporting McMaster’s reelection.

In turn, McMaster credited Xiaodan for her work in promoting changes in the way South Carolinians vote, including the establishment of early voting and changes to the absentee voting process. McMaster signed the law in May, when he described it as a “major victory for free and fair elections” that would make it easier to vote and guard against “election day disasters we saw nationwide in 2020.”

“I don’t believe it would have happened,” McMaster told Xiadodan during his talk, “without you,”

Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, whose district includes Hilton Head, said Friends of Liberty channeled frustration with the results of the 2020 election into getting laws changed to restore trust in the system. Xiaodan, he said, did a “forensic audit” on election laws and suggested ways to make them better, then met with lawmakers and McMaster. A blueprint for change, Davis said, is now available for other states to follow.

McMaster, 75, was sworn in as governor in January 2017 following then-Gov. Nikki Haley’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He was elected to a full term in November 2018. He is running for reelection this year.

McMaster, driving from Columbia to Hilton Head, arrived a little late and asked for a cup of coffee when he arrived. The event was free. Some residents arrived driving golf carts.

“South Carolina is booming — and we have to get that boom to everybody — but we are booming,” McMaster told reporters prior to his talk, referring to an expected $3 billion surplus in next year’s budget.

Because South Carolina did not close down like other states during the pandemic, “we’re blasting off” and more people are working, instead of suffering like other states, McMaster said. He credited the state’s technical colleges for training workers but said there’s still a shortfall.

“We have 100,000 jobs looking for people,” McMaster said. “It used to be the other way around.”

The state also received $2.4 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds.

McMaster said he supports putting funds into projects that transform transportation and safety. “But we don’t want to waste a penny.”

Meeting 37 miles south of the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, McMaster pointed out that “at long last” the state eliminated state income taxes on military retirement benefits, with the state joining 35 other states that provide full state tax exemptions on those benefits. Previously, veterans received a partial tax exemption if they’d served 20 years. McMaster signed a bill in May that eliminated the taxes.

On Friday, McMaster toured Parris Island, where concerns about rising sea levels and increasing integration of training for men and women have raised questions about the base’s future viability.

But McMaster said he was impressed with the way the Marines are adapting, noting they are raising roads and creating “living shorelines” in expectation of rising sea levels. The response, he’s told, will make the base “good for another 100 years at least.”

“We’ve been doing it since the late 1800s,” he said of “making Marines” at Parris Island, “and there’s no reason we can’t keep on doing it.”

Regarding recent school shootings that have reinvigorated debate over gun legislation, McMaster said he’s open to looking at steps other states are taking but won’t do anything he says would violate the 2nd Amendment. South Carolina, he said, is emphasizing adding more mental health professionals in schools, “Because that’s where a lot of this comes from.”

McMaster says he’s already supporting more armed police officers in schools, with the number “way ahead of most of the rest of the country.”

“These are certified law enforcement officers in the school,” McMaster said, “carrying weapons.”

Li, the Friends of Liberty founder, said the group isn’t affiliated with any party.

“We’re just a group of people who love our freedom, love our country,” Li said, “and we see things are not going the right direction.”

Instead of complaining about it, she said, she decided to form the organization in February. The group works at the grassroots level on information and education and conducts its own analyses of candidates.

“We are conservative in the sense that we just want to bring common sense policies back,” Li said. “We want Washington to work for us just to conserve what has worked for the country for the past 200 years. If you call that conservative, that’s what we are.”

The group doesn’t have members but more than 1,000 subscribe to Li’s email list. Issues of concern, she said, include growth, school funding and performance and public safety. “It seems like there are more shootings going on,” Li said regarding public safety.