CONWAY — The entire five-person leadership team of the Horry County Republican Party has abruptly resigned following state party condemnation of several members.
The departing Horry County leaders criticized other state and county Republicans for not supporting former President Donald Trump strongly enough.
Horry GOP Chairman Roger Slagle, state Executive Committeewoman Tracy Diaz, Secretary Barbara Treacy and Interim Treasurer Angela King officially resigned Sept. 12, with their exits to take effect Sept. 30.
Vice President Jeremy Halpin already resigned before Sept. 12. Slagle and Diaz both confirmed the resignations.
Slagle blames what he called “establishment” Republicans at the county and state levels for leading the five pro-Trump county leaders to this point.
“We came in to try to bring integrity back to the process and help our county elect bold representatives who will act on behalf of their constituencies, especially at the local level,” Slagle said in a statement released Sept. 13.
“We have now exposed what they were doing in the name of the ‘Republican’ Party,” he added.
When the Horry GOP reorganized in early 2021, a faction of county Republicans, who call themselves “America First Patriots” in connection with a famous Trump campaign tagline, became party executive committee members and leaders. At the time, Horry was considered one of the most pro-Trump counties in the state.
Recent history has seen the Horry GOP censure U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., as one of 15 Republicans who voted in favor of the Safer Communities Act covering federal gun regulations. Graham, they said, “enables a radical left cultural Marxist agenda, the weakening of the Republican brand and the tarnishing the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and the preservation of constitutional rights.”
Horry County Republicans also soundly rejected the re-election effort of incumbent U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-Myrtle Beach, in the June GOP primary. He lost to state Rep. Russell Fry by a more than 25% margin in a seven-way race.
Slagle, who includes himself among the “America First, pro-Trump, anti-establishment” faction, said his and alike views represent the majority opinion in the county. But he contends that once he and others took over running the party, they began receiving a backlash from so-called “establishment” Republicans in Horry County and elsewhere.
“We have been under constant attack by establishment factions … within the Horry County Republican Party for power and control,” Slagle said.
Diaz, in a public blog post published Sept. 13, said she decided to resign due to “dirty, backhanded” political tactics that she accused the S.C. GOP of doing in order to undermine the county party’s leadership over the past two years.
“The S.C. GOP doesn’t like the America First agenda,” she wrote. “They are happy to fundraise on that platform, and they are happy to use Donald Trump to get what they want, but fundamentally, the leadership and its minions are the left wearing elephant costumes over the donkey ones.”
These abrupt resignations came after a Sept. 10 quarterly State Republican Party Executive Committee meeting, which voted to condemn and remove perks from the members of the committee who attempted to stall the reconvening of the 2021 State Republican Convention over false allegations.
These members of the committee included several of the GOP leaders in Horry and Greenville counties, including Slagle and Diaz, among others, according to state Republican Party officials.
The departing Horry County GOP leaders accused the state party of publicly condemning them for not agreeing with an “establishment” agenda.
Claire Brady, communications director for the S.C. GOP, said a compromise was offered to Horry County GOP leaders before the motion was passed, but the leaders chose not to accept it.
“A compromise was offered, to suspend the motion if the specific members apologized, but the compromise was retracted after the members did not apologize,” Brady said.
“The South Carolina Republican Party is continuing our focus on the November election and beating Democrats up and down the ballot in Horry County and across the state.”
The Horry County party’s next move is unclear. No information has been provided about when replacements will be chosen.
Follow Nicole Ziege on Twitter @NicoleZiege.
