Herbkersman and Covert square off for SC House seat. What makes them different
For the first time in his 17 years in the state House of Representatives, Rep. Bill Herbkersman of Bluffton is facing a primary challenger for the District 118 seat.
On March 27, the last day to file for the 2020 election, Beaufort County Council member Mike Covert dropped out of the race for the 1st Congressional District and filed to run against Herbkersman.
The race between the two Bluffton Republicans has seen controversy over debates, personal attacks and accusations of negative campaigning.
The 118th District includes portions of Beaufort and Jasper counties. About 87% of registered voters in the district live in Beaufort County. The racial breakdown of the district is 83% white and 17% non-white.
The winner of the June 9 primary will face Democrat Mitch Siegel, a political activist and retired heath care project manager, in the November general election.
The S.C. House of Representatives consists of 124 part-time legislators elected every two years. Current membership is made up of 79 Republicans and 44 Democrats, with one vacancy in District 115. S.C. representatives make $10,400 per year and $170 per diem, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among the issues the legislature will face in 2021: improvements to the S.C. public school system, how to pay for infrastructure and road repairs, taxes, state funding for the University of South Carolina Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcountry, and the state’s response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Herbkersman’s campaign is largely centered on what he says he has done in the House and the support he says he’s received from residents. Large white banners with “Republican Bill Herbkersman” written in red and blue font are draped across several well-known establishments in Old Town Bluffton, including Corner Perk and the Bluffton Oyster Company.
“I’m running a positive campaign based on my track record,” he said. “My opponent can run any kind of ads he wants, but if he’s going to lie about issues or me, he needs to do more homework.”
Covert has cited Herbkersman’s longevity in the statehouse as a sign that he’s been there too long. He supports term limits for politicians, saying that he’s signed a pledge to serve no more than four terms — eight years total — if elected. He says that Herbkersman has voted on only 42% of the bills that have come before the S.C. House.
Covert said the 42% is based on information he received from Young Americans for Liberty PAC and the Republican Liberty Caucus PAC. He also cited a 2018 report from the American Conservative Union that said Herbkersman has a “lifetime average” of 45%, but that percentage is based on bills the conservative group had an interest in, not the total.
When asked about his voting record, Herbkersman said the 42% was “not accurate at all.”
An analysis of Herbkersman’s votes by The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette show that he has voted on 5,375 of the 7,090 bills, or 76%, that have come before the House since 2011, the earliest available data, according to the statehouse website.
Covert has been a vocal member on Beaufort County Council since 2017, speaking out against what he calls “corruption on different levels.”
“Longevity breeds complacency, and complacency breeds corruption,” Covert said. “If you look at Bill’s voting record, he has more ‘not voting’ votes than yays or nays or abstentions. He just didn’t vote.”
Herbkersman said he hasn’t missed any major votes that affected Beaufort or Jasper counties.
“As you get seniority in different important subcommittees, you have to attend those subcommittee meetings,” he said. “It’s important to know the votes I miss are votes like a squirrel bag limit or naming a road in Anderson County. There’s never been an important vote that I’ve missed. It’s just a matter of setting priorities.”
Herbkersman drew criticism in 2018 after he introduced a bill that many saw as an attempt to help the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and other chambers to hide how they spend public money.
Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association, called it “a terrible bill for openness in South Carolina.” It ultimately did not pass.
Covert has been criticized for jumping from race to race after just three years on Beaufort County Council. He initially thought of challenging U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), then shifted his focus to the 1st Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Joe Cunningham’s narrow win, before dropping out at the last second.
He said he began thinking about running for Herbkersman’s seat about two months before the filing date.
“I had to make a decision whether I can help the people the most in Washington or Columbia, and I’m a big proponent of the best government is local government,” he said. “We changed course and stayed here at home. Do I still have aspirations of running for Congress? Absolutely, but we will continue to work on the things that are ailments to South Carolina through the statehouse.”
The issues
Covert’s campaign has focused on what he calls a “three T approach”: taxes, term limits and teachers.
Herbkersman said his top three legislative priorities are improving local infrastructure and roads, increasing teacher pay and retention at K-12 schools, and bringing senior healthcare to the national average.
Covert supports dissolving the statewide income tax in favor of a “flatter tax” based on consumption, he said.
“Eliminating income taxes lets the worker keep more of their paycheck,” he said.
In their campaigns, both Herbkersman and Covert have highlighted increasing teacher pay as a goal.
Herbkersman said he has worked to provide teachers better healthcare through his committee assignment in the House Ways and Means Committee.
“We need to relax testing and give the local school boards the opportunity and control of local schools,” he said. “We also have to meet the challenge of having parents involved in the education of their children. From a legislative standpoint, we need to have the teachers more involved with legislation and funding.”
Covert said he supports creating an education housing trust that would give incentives to teachers and allow them to live near their schools in high rent areas like Hilton Head Island and Bluffton.
Both Herbkersman and Covert have spoken against abortion.
In 2019, Herbkersman co-sponsored the S.C. Fetal Heartbeat Protection from Abortion Act which would prohibit an abortion if a doctor detected a heartbeat. He said he would support ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, but he doesn’t believe abortions should be included in the amendment.
Covert said he is against the public funding of abortions and called the Equal Rights Amendment “unconstitutional.”
Herbkersman said he and other legislators like Tom Davis have worked hard to ensure that USCB and TCL receive the same amount of funding per student from the state as larger schools.
“This is the first time in 20 years that we’ve had equity for the schools down here,” he said. “We’ve worked so hard to get parity at USCB and, for once, the students are treated fair by the state.”
Herbkersman said the South Carolina Hospital Association and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, among other organizations, mobilized quickly during the coronavirus pandemic to prevent “what could have been a worse disaster.”
“I was involved in the critical decisions for emergency funding for DHEC and will be involved in the solvency of our hospitals,” he said.
Covert said it’s not prudent to say that the healthcare system should have been more prepared for the coronavirus pandemic.
“The government should not be in the healthcare business,” he said. “Yes, we all found ourselves not prepared enough for the COVID-19 event. How could we have been?”
Controversy
As the June 9 primary election draws nearer, the race has stirred some controversy.
TalkOne Radio, a Bluffton-based online political talk radio station, was forced to cancel a previously scheduled debate between the two candidates after they couldn’t agree on the terms of the event.
Herbkersman wanted the Beaufort County Republican Party to moderate. Covert did not. Herbkersman also accused the radio station of publishing Covert’s advertisements on its Facebook page while refusing to run his.
In the end, both parties agreed to go on the radio station individually and take questions from callers.
Covert will call in at 1 p.m. on May 27. Herbkersman will call in at 1 p.m. May 29 and 1 p.m. on June 5. Listeners can call (843) 800-1492 with questions.
Herbkersman and Covert will participate in a virtual public forum hosted by the Beaufort County Republican Party from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. on June 3. The public forum will be streamed live on the Beaufort County GOP Facebook page.
Primary preview in The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette:
Today: S.C. House District 118: Herbkersman vs. Covert
Monday: S.C. House District 123: Bradley vs. Hartman
Tuesday: Beaufort County coroner, Jasper County coroner
Wednesday: Jasper County sheriff
This story was originally published May 24, 2020 at 6:40 AM.
